To Know Forever
by bed hair
Summary: Ginny: graduated top of medical school, and now a healer at Portsmouth Military Training Camp. Draco: a hardened, cynical commanding officer of the Special Forces, based at Portsmouth Military Training Camp. How could they resist?
1. Horny, sexstarved men

Ginny waited patiently for her supervising healer to stop babbling. She had no idea how she got into this predicament – she had only graduated from medical school just a few minutes ago, and Professor Michael Bonaparte had taken her aside to 'discuss a pressing matter'. She had heard bits and pieces of it, but honestly, this man talked so fast, she couldn't keep up with him.

After a few minutes, she had enough. "Professor." She interrupted.

Professor Michael Bonaparte stopped talking, looking irritably at her, not pleased at all at getting interrupted. "Miss, Weasley, I was discussing a very important matter. If you could just restrain yourself from interrupting." He huffed.

"Sorry Professor. But you are talking a bit too fast, and I cannot understand you. If you could just start from the beginning and talk a tad bit slower so I can understand?" she said sweetly.

The Professor sighed. Some things just never change – Miss Weasley continued to drone off when her professors were talking, it was astonishing that she would have come first in all her subjects. "Miss Weasley, you really have to learn how to pay attention."

Ginny hid a grin. It would be her secret until she died that she didn't drone off when professors talked to her. She pretended to…she didn't know why. Perhaps she just enjoyed surprising everyone's socks off at the end of the course when she was believed to flunk her course, but ultimately walking away with the title of valedictorian. Sure she got shit after shit from all her professors, but it was all worth it in the end looking at the professors' faces when they looked at her last exam mark. Full marks in everything. "I promise I will learn to do that soon Professor."

"Anyways, as I was saying earlier, there is always an opening – one single opening – for our brightest student to work at the Wizarding Military Force – uh, you do know what that is right?"

Ginny scowled. Did all her professors still believe she was an idiot? Even after proving to everybody she was not? "Yes Professor Bonaparte, I know what the WMF are." She reassured tightly.

"Good. Well, since you have proved to be the brightest student, the offer goes to you. And in any case where should you refuse to accept this offer, General Stoppard has informed me that this would look very unpleasant on your resumes." He said, with a nasty smile.

Ginny raised her eyebrow. "So Professor, you're telling me that if I happen to decline this most _generous_ offer, I'd be screwed for the rest of my life?"

Professor Bonaparte frowned slightly. "You're choice of language is quite appalling young lady."

Ginny smirked at her former professor. "I'll tell you what's appalling _Professor_. The fact that I have to be blackmailed into such a job or I'll be screwed up for the rest of my life is appalling. No, it's not my language that is appalling. It's people like you who are appalling. You come up with some fucked up plan with some idiot of a general to make sure you get some decent doctors into the military."

"Miss Weasley!" Professor Bonaparte roared. "I will not tolerate you talking to me in that manner!"

Ginny nearly laughed. "What are you going to do? Expel me? Suspend me? You forget. I'm no longer a student of this school. I have graduated just…" she looked down to check her watch, "thirty minutes ago. And I am very aware that you no longer have the authority to tell me what to do. So Professor, I must, before I lose my temper and hit you, bid you farewell." And strode off, not letting the Professor say another word.

Michael Bonaparte sputtered indignantly as he watched his former student walk out of the school forever. How dare that little wrench belittle him like that? She was definitely one-of-a-kind though. He had never received such response when he told them about the grand offer. They had always been thrilled and honored to receive such privilege…stupid fools. But that girl was smart; he had to give it to her. She had known what kind of difficulties she'd be faced with when she got there. He sighed, and wondered when he'd escape all this miserable operations.

Ginny kicked the door of her apartment wide open, and let herself in. she blinked a couple of times, coming to the conclusion that she may have drunk too much at the bar. She fumbled clumsily for the light switch and groaned when the light hit her, sending sharp pains right to her head.

* * *

"Ginny? Ginny, dear, is that you?" a voice called out from her kitchen.

Ginny squinted her eyes through the bright light, finally noticing that her kitchen had been lit up. "Shit." She mumbled as she stood straighter and made a graceless step towards her kitchen. That didn't work too well. After that one step, she managed to trip over her feet and tumble to the floor where she called out, "Are you a burglar? What are you doing in my house? I don't really have much to take."

Molly Weasley emerged from her daughter's kitchen and frowned. "Ginny! What are you doing?!" she demanded when she saw her daughter slumped on the floor.

Ginny tilted her head from the floor to look at the person talking to her and grinned. "Hi mum. What in the blazes are you doing here?" then her grin fell. "Err…I didn't do anything wrong did I?"

"Virginia Reuby Weasley!" Molly screeched. "What is the meaning of all this?!"

Ginny scrunched up her head. "Mum!" she wailed, "Not so loud. It hurts…my head hurts."

Molly ignored her. "First you don't tell anyone that you were graduating today; then you don't tell anyone that you were the valedictorian. Then, you don't come home until _two o'clock_ in the morning and make everyone worry; and now, you come home filthy drunk, lying on the floor because you can't even stand, and YOU ASK ME WHAT I'M DOING HERE?!"

"Muuummm." Ginny whined. "Stop screaming…it really, really hurts my head. My poor, poor head."

Molly huffed crabbily. "Get up Ginny. Get up." She ordered, kneeling down to get her daughter up onto the sofa. "That's it dearest. Get up. Good girl." She finally managed to get her daughter on the sofa. She couldn't believe this. How could someone like her daughter do something so stupid like getting herself drunk? She took a seat on the coffee table and looked at her daughter.

"Now, tell me what's wrong." She said calmly.

Ginny looked at her mother and heaved a sigh. "Well, today I graduated. Top of all my classes and surprised the living bats out of everyone. After that I thought it was going to be the happiest days of my life…it was so fun seeing everyone's reaction. BUT…there's always as but. But, my professor told me my first place came at a price. My name is being printed on the school valedictorian plaque right now, but it costs quite a lot." She said, sighing again.

"Well? What's the price?" Molly demanded impatiently.

Ginny looked at her mother and grinned. "Well, you are now looking at the new healer of the Wizarding Military Force – British Portsmouth Training and Base Camp; surrounded by hundreds of horny, sex-starved bloody soldiers; and under the command of a bastard General who finds blackmailing newly-graduated healers to be a form of necessary action."

Molly's mouth gaped wide open. "Portsmouth Training and Base Camp? That means that you – …"

Ginny cut her off glumly. "Yes…that means I have to move out of my beautiful apartment and move in with the hundreds of horny, sex-starved soldiers."

"Ginny!" Molly exclaimed. "How can you even _think_ about your apartment at this time? You'll have to move there and we won't get to see you!"

"Mmm…yes I know. Isn't that great?" she said languidly, pretending to be basking in all the blissful possibilities.

"GINNY!"

"Jeez, just joking with you mum. I'm not that much of a bitch." Ginny reassured, grinning from the look that possessed her mother's face a few seconds ago.

"Ginny, you really must do something about that mouth of yours. It's really becoming too…too improper." Molly scolded.

Ginny sat up and looked at her mother. "Mum, in three days I'm going away from here, going away from anywhere near home, and you're lecturing to me about my language?" she asked incredulously.

"THREE DAYS?!"

Ginny hid a grin behind her hand. "Yes mum, three days. You only have three days left with you daughter before I am sent to the deepest darkest hell of horny men."

"Oh, stop being so melodramatic Gin." her mother chided. "And stop saying you'll be surrounded by horny men. Perhaps you won't. Maybe, you'll even find a nice man while you're there."

Ginny stared at her mother. "Mum. Get real; they're soldiers who have not seen women in weeks. Maybe even months. Being sex-starved doesn't really make men nice mum."

"But, Ginny. You're twenty-three years old now, way passed the suitable marriage age for a woman. You're brother is a _boy_ and he's managed to get married before you have. Sweetheart, don't you find that a bit worrying?" Molly admonished.

Ginny frowned, a sudden thought occurring to her. "Mum, how did you get into my apartment anyways? I don't remember giving you keys to the apartment."

Molly flushed a light pink in her round cheeks. "Well, well…well, dear, look at the time! I must be off, you're father will get worried. I made some dinner for you…it's in the kitchen. Eat it now if you're up for it, and if you're not put a warming spell on them so you can eat them tomorrow. Oh…and before I forget, Hermione's pregnant. Come to The Burrow tomorrow, we're celebrating." She said quickly, getting up from the coffee table.

Ginny tried to rise with her mother, but the spinning room in Ginny's eyes did not help, and she flopped back onto the sofa. "Mum? Why the sudden rush?" she asked cheekily, knowing full well she hit the right target.

Molly glowered at her daughter and apparated away immediately before she could get in anymore words.

Ginny stared at the spot her mother was standing in a moment ago and smirked. Life was great. Most of it anyways.

* * *

It was five o'clock in the afternoon on a nice, chilly day when Ginny knocked on the door to her childhood home wrapped up in a long beige leather coat and holding a small wrapped package in her left hand. She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for someone to let her in, but after a total of thirty seconds she groaned. _Who was she kidding anyways?_ It was The Burrow, where there was always too many people with too much sound, so how was anyone suppose to hear someone knocking on the door? She opened the front door and let herself in, taking off her coat and hanging it in the cloak room – by habit, and knew tonight would be a long night.

She looked around slowly, breathing deeply, feeling as sense of nostalgia as she smiled faintly at the Weasley clock. Her name was still on it, but instead of pointing to 'home', it was pointing to 'The Burrow' where everybody else's name was pointing at. She walked leisurely to the kitchen where the usual aroma of food was emitting, and stopped for a moment, grinning at her family inside it, laughing and fooling around in.

"Ginny!!" Fred called out merrily, his face rosy with laughter.

Ginny smiled at him and entered the kitchen where she was soon surrounded by everyone in her family – immediate and not.

"Gin! It's about time you came and visited!"

"Heard you graduated at the top of your class! Well done!"

"Aunty Ginny, where's my present?"

"Ginny! It's been ages! Where have you been?"

Ginny held up a hand, silencing everyone, and her smiled broadened as she looked at everyone.

"Gin, you've seen to have put on some weight. Are you pregnant?"

Ginny turned around to see where the last comment came from and she laughed when she say Fred with his little daughter, Jennifer hanging off his leg and his son Jason hanging off his neck. "Fred. How ever did you know? I was meant to keep it a secret until my tummy started bloating…but you just had to come and ruin the surprise didn't you? I guess my pregnancy news has spread."

And that was when Ron decided to come in with Hermione, hand in hand.

"Who exactly is pregnant here?" he asked dangerously, eyeing his sister's flat stomach with a twitch.

George coughed as he tried to hide his laughter. He walked over to him and managed to squeeze in between Ron and Hermione and put his arms around the two of them. "Well, its like this. There are two women pregnant in this family right now. Hermione here and little Gin-bug over there. We all know how Hermione became pregnant, but I don't believe you know how Ginny's gotten pregnant. Well, a few weeks ago, she went to a bar and started drinking a drinking. The bartender told me that she managed to drown twenty-six shots of tequila before she was picked up by a handsome stranger that had been checking her out the whole time. Well, he took her to his house, knocked her up and now, presto…she's banged up _and_ pregnant. Wonderful news isn't it?"

The rest of the family watched as Ron's face became redder and redder, with what, Ginny didn't know. But what she did know is that making her older brother blush and watch his face contort with rage was definitely amusing to watch.

"And…who's the…father?" Ron forced out, his face now becoming purple.

George looked at Ginny, and shrugged. "Hell if I know mate, she wouldn't tell me either."

Ginny looked very seriously at Ron. "Well, the reason I can't tell you the name of my baby's father is because, well, I don't remember. Actually, I don't even remember his face. But what I do remember is that he gave me one hell of an orgasm. And I also remember when he came inside me he cried 'angel'…if that helps Ron."

Ron yelped as his sister talked about things she should not even know about and nearly exploded. "MUM!!"

Everyone burst out laughing with Ginny and George laughing the hardest. It was so amazing that a twenty-four year old married man would still run to their mother when he didn't know how to manage things.

"Calm down Ron. We were only playing with you." Ginny comforted after seeing his expression. It was torn between fury and embarrassment…which were not a good combination, especially if it involved Ron.

"Playing? Playing?! PLAYING! For God's sakes Ginny, you said you were pr-prr-preg-." Ron spluttered.

"Pregnant." Ginny supplied helpfully.

Ron glared at her. "Yes! Pregnant. Do you know what that means?!" he demanded.

Ginny looked at him funny. "Ron, of course I know what it means. It means I had sex, and hopefully I don't have to tell you all the details about where the sperm goes?"

"Ginny! How can you say that?" Ron asked, outraged by such talk from his baby sister.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I'm a healer Ron. For the last three years, it was one of the topics I learnt over and over again. Would you like me to teach you it?"

"Bu-but you know about sex!"

Ginny laughed. "Of course I know about sex. I'm hardly an innocent little girl anymore. I think I should know about sex at my age."

"You shouldn't know about sex." He said stubbornly.

"Yes, I shouldn't Ron. I shouldn't know about it until I get married and have sex, but unfortunately, we don't live in a world where sex is forbidden to discuss." Ginny said.

"GINNY!" Molly called out from behind them, running down the stairs with her husband, Arthur. "When did you get here? Why didn't you call me down when you got here? Oh for goodness sakes Ginny, give me a kiss."

Ginny turned to her mother and father and smiled widely. "Mum! Dad!" she said as she kissed each of them on their cheek. "Sorry, I was just saying hi to everyone else."

Molly hurried to the kitchen. "It's all right dear, you should catch up. You haven't visited for so long, and since you're leaving soon anyways, you'd better make up for all the time you'll be gone."

"Gone? Where you going Gin?" Bill asked, hoisting his three-year-old son on his shoulders.

"Umm…Portsmouth."

The room went silent.

"Why are you going to Portsmouth Gin? There's nothing there but a WMF Base Camp which is just full of dangerous men." Percy asked nervously. "I mean, I understand you want a holiday after you've graduated, but Portsmouth?"

"Percy…I'm not going there on a vacation. I'm going there to work. At the Base Camp. I'm the new healer of Portsmouth Training and Base Camp." Ginny said glumly, clearly not pleased with her immediate future.

"But it's going to be packed with sex-driven men!" Hermione protested, but soon covering her mouth, scandalized that a word such as 'sex' would leave her mouth.

"I know. You don't have to rub it in. I'm already quite pissed off." Ginny said crossly.

"Yes dears, don't make Ginny upset even more. She needs her strength to survive with so many wild men." Molly chastised as she re-entered the dining room, where most of her children and grandchildren were talking. "Everyone sit down. DINNER'S READY!"

Ginny winced as her mother yelled right into her ear, and reminded herself that tonight, would indeed be a very long night. But it would a very long night with her family and she would make the best of it during next two days.

* * *

Ginny shoved clothes after clothes into her black suitcase and sighed. All the stuff she was going to bring would not fit into her suitcase. "Ahh…fuck it. There is always some sort of charm to fix shit."

Then the doorbell rang, and she was immensely grateful for the break. All the packing and thought of leaving her wonderful apartment was upsetting. She walked out of her room to the door and opened it to find the infamous Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived.

"Hey Gin." He said, smiling wearily.

"Harry." She greeted, allowing him inside her spacious apartment.

She closed the door behind and they walked together to the living room. "Tea Harry?" she offered politely, still wondering what the hell he wanted with her at this time of day.

"No thanks. I don't think anything right now is going to settle with my stomach." He said ruefully – which was true. He looked positively green.

"Late night with your secretary?" Ginny asked.

Harry looked up sharply. "How did you know?"

Ginny shrugged. "Well, the evidence is all there. Eyeliner smudge on your collar, strange perfume, clothes are rumpled, you look positively fucked."

Harry raised an eyebrow at her.

Ginny grinned. "Before I wanted to become a healer, I was going to become a forensic scientist, and I went through six months of that course before I switched to medicine. First topic we learnt about was evidence of sex. Interesting isn't it?"

Harry eyed her weirdly. "You are absolutely nutters. Why would you want to study dead people?" he asked disbelievingly.

She laughed. "So I've been told." Then her expression grew serious. "I know you didn't come here to discuss your double-leading love life with me, so what do I owe this humble visit to?"

Harry slumped down on the sofa behind him and his shoulders sagged. "Gin…how much do you know about Portsmouth?"

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him. "Is this what you came here at five o'clock in the morning for? To ask about Portsmouth? If you really want to know, why don't you just visit there yourself?"

"No…I'm asking if you're aware of the conditions there."

"Hmm…well, I know that the General Stoppard is an absolute bastard. And I know I'll be surrounded by sex-starved men, wild to have some sort of sexual release…and that's about it." Ginny answered puzzedly. She really didn't know where all this was heading towards.

"Gin…forget the rest. Malfoy's there."

"What? Malfoy as in Draco Malfoy? Why?" Ginny asked confusedly.

Harry sighed as he rubbed his eyes from their weariness. "He's a commanding officer of the Special Forces Unit – they're the elite team who do the shit no one else can do…not even the Aurors."

"And so you're telling me that…?" Ginny asked.

"Malfoy's as dangerous as they come. Just because he isn't a Deatheather doesn't mean that he'll be nice. He'll probably screw you over or screw you, so I'm just telling you to be careful." Harry said tiredly.

"Harry, as much as I love you as a brother, I think you're a dickhead. You have a wife who loves you so much that she's willing to ignore the fact that you're having an affair, and you have a bloody one-year-old son. Don't you think you owe them a shit load more than what you give them?" Ginny asked.

"Gods Gin. She's been having an affair too." Harry croaked out.

"No she hasn't. She's been trying to act like she's being having one so you might just notice her once in a while and be the husband you're supposed to be. You're such an idiot Harry. She's trying to make you jealous. Think about it. When would she have time to have an affair? During the day? She's busy taking care of James. During the afternoon? She's shopping and buying materials to work. During the night, I suppose? She busies herself in her shop making all the clothes. Do you think all the clothes just appear on the front step?" Ginny demanded.

"You don't understand Gin. We don't love each other, we never did. The only reason why we married is because she got pregnant and it was the honorable thing to do." Harry said sadly.

Ginny sighed. "Lavender's been a good wife. I think you know that she deserves a whole lot more."

Harry got up and smiled somberly. "I think I know that too. Goodbye Gin. Take care of yourself in Portsmouth."

"Thanks Harry." Gin said, rising from her seat.

"No, don't get up. I'll just see myself out." Harry told her, already walking along the hallway that'd lead him to the door.

* * *

"Jody, make sure you keep my apartment all wonderful okay? Don't trash it, don't have parties in it, don't break anything and don't have sex in my apartment. Please." She said tearfully, saying goodbye to her friends and family for the very last time.

Jody rolled her eyes. "Gin, it's only an apartment. And trust me; I'd never have sex in your apartment. Sex is limited to our manor."

Ginny glared at her. "I still can't believe you married a bloody Slytherin out of all people. You traitor. And don't say my apartment is just an apartment. It's my home."

Jody grinned at her and embraced her tightly. "Be safe Gin-bug. Make sure you're safe, okay?"

Ginny nodded solemnly as she looked around at her apartment. It was true when she told her best friend that her apartment wasn't just an apartment. She had to fight and dig her heels into the idea of moving out when she enrolled in medical school. And after three months, her mother had relented, but told her no financial support would be given. Of course, her father sneaked her a few galleons here and there when he could spare some. But most of the apartment was thanks to her. She hadn't moved into this apartment in the beginning. She moved into a dinghy, old, disgusting small apartment where she only slept while she worked as a nurse when she wasn't going to school. And nurses paid extremely, extremely well, so well that in a couple of months, she had saved enough to buy her own apartment – nicely furbished and in a very good neighborhood. Her spit and blood went into buying this apartment, and so calling it just an apartment was wrong.

Her mother walked to her and hugged her tightly. "Make sure you write everyday all right? And use the fireplace. Eat well. Be a good girl and if a boy looks at you, just run away okay?" she said, her eyes watery with unshed tears.

Ginny furrowed her brows in confusion. _Run away?_ "Err…yes mum. I will."

"Good girl." Molly crooned. "You've grown up so much. You're all grown up and going away!"

"Erm. I'll miss you too mum. I promise I'll write and I'll eat a lot. Okay? Mum? Don't cry. I'll even come visit during Christmas and Easter. Mum!" Ginny tried to comfort her, but no avail. The waterworks began.

Ginny looked at the clock above the fireplace and sighed. It was time for her to go. She grabbed a handful of the green floo powder and threw it in the fireplace, watching the flames turn a vibrant green. "Bye mum. Wish me luck in a place filled with horny and sex-starved men." She said forlornly before stepping in the fireplace and yelling "PORTSMOUTH BASE CAMP RECEPTION OFFICE."


	2. General Stoppard

Ginny coughed slightly as she stepped out of the fireplace and noted her surroundings grimly. It was definitely a men's environment, with the only two colors being beige and a dirty white. There was a distinct musty odor of cheaply bought cigarettes and cigars, sweat, and cheap aftershave. It was bad enough to make her throw up.

"May I help you?" a man asked from across the room, sitting behind a tiny wooden desk, cluttered with unattended paperwork.

Ginny turned to look and him and gave a tight smile, guessing he was the secretary or something. "Yes. I'm the new healer. I was told to report here today…" she trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

The young man glanced down at the calendar and nodded slowly. "Virginia Weasley, is it?"

Ginny nodded.

He looked up and smiled. "Well, you're right on time. The General will see you now."

Ginny dreaded meeting this General. From what she gathered, he was an absolute asshole. She silently groaned, and turned to the male secretarial officer who was greeting her with some sort of politeness she hadn't expected. "Thank you." She said, before heading towards the crude wooden door, decorated with a simple gold plaque with _General Stoppard_ carved into it.

She breathed deeply before she knocked on the door three times, waiting for the go-ahead from the General.

"Come in!" a gruff voice yelled out.

Ginny was becoming to really regret choosing her career in medicine as she opened the door and creaked it opened. She entered and closed the door behind her and immediately discovered the reason for the putrid stench of cigarettes and cigars. The General had one lit sticking out of his mouth.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded rudely.

Ginny tried to hide her disgust from this man, as she forced out a tense smile. "I'm your new healer."

The General sat up and looked interestedly at her. "You? You're our new healer? A girl?"

Ginny cringed at his derogatory tone.

"They couldn't send me a male, so they send me a _girl_ healer?! Merlin, what is this world coming to?" he grumbled, as he scrutinized over the length of her body. "Not even a woman healer, but a girl healer! You look like you should still be going to Hogwarts!"

Ginny blinked.

"What is happening with all our strong, good males these days?" he continued his tyrant.

Ginny had enough. "Well, sir. I'd imagine they all turned into something like you." She said sweetly, forcing out a charming smile.

General James Stoppard stopped his tirade and glanced at her sharply. Never in his twenty-seven years as a military combatant had he been insulted in ten minutes of meeting someone…much less a girl! She had some nerve making a smart ass comment like that, when he had control over everything in the camp. "I'd be careful of what you say girl. I can break you like _that_." He warned, clicking his fingers.

Ginny regarded her new boss carefully. "It seems to me that you're _threatening_ me sir. And I do believe that is absolutely against the law, is it not, General? Hmm…a bit disappointing. I had imagined that my new supervisor, a _General_ none-the-less would be much more educated than that." She said smartly, her eyes hardening with loathing for him.

General Stoppard's face contorted with rage, and began to bloom into a deep red. "Now, you listen here, girl!" he snarled.

"I do have a name, General Stoppard. And I would very much appreciate if you remember that sir." Ginny intervened, slightly enjoying her momentary higher position in mental power. "I am most polite to you, sir, using your full credentials, or a respectable 'sir', but you seem to have a slight problem with remembering my name. It's Virginia Weasley sir. You can call me Miss Weasley, or Ginny. I not picky and I don't mind which."

"Now you listen here girlie - …"

"- Ginny." She butted in, correcting him.

"_Ginny_." He sneered. "I can make your stay at Portsmouth a living hell. Now, if you get that attitude away from here and fast, and you do as I say, you'll become to enjoy this hell hole."

Ginny calmly regarded him. "General Stoppard. If you really insist in stooping down to that level of blackmailing your healers, I can just refuse to work. I can do that, you know."

"You cannot just _refuse_ to work! You're a healer! This is a military base camp. If you don't work, these men will die!"

Ginny smiled coldly. "I can, and I will refuse to work if you continue with your less-than-civilized method of encouraging your healers to work for you."

"Then you won't work here any longer!" he spat out, not believing the gall of this girl.

"Then, you'll be breaking section 52 of the Unfair Dismissal Act, and you'll be stripped of your supervisor entitlement. I do wish you would be more up-to-date with the law General Stoppard. It will really prove to be useful." She stated back, not really believing an ounce of the words that were coming out of his mouth. She could see why he had to blackmail new students to work at Portsmouth. After every year, they'd quit or apply for a transfer.

She started at him, waiting for what else he might have to offer and smiled inwardly. He had nothing more. He had never come across a healer who knew the exact unlawful procedure of his actions and knew what to do if he did happen to act out his threats. He was glaring at her, his right eye twitching every now and then from the blood pulsating around his head.

"All right, Miss-Know-It-All lets go for a walk. I'll show you around our superb campsite." He clenched out, after a few moments of composing himself.

Ginny smiled pleasantly at him. "That would be lovely General Stoppard."

* * *

The campsite was disgusting.

That was all that came to Ginny's mind as General Stoppard showed her around his 'superb' campsite. It was all dirt, mud, rocks; and life's simple luxuries were at a minimum. It was a wonder that she got her own lodge and bathroom. And they were both filled with dust, cobwebs and mud. She was really getting sick of the sight of mud. It seemed everywhere she went, everywhere she looked, there was mud and dirt. She could only imagine what it'd be like when it rained.

"I see you agree very well with our facilities." The General said delightedly, taking in her bland face and the dreaded look in her eyes.

Ginny slowly turned to face him. "Oh yes, General. I am a female, who, up to this point of time, greatly enjoyed life's pleasantries, like a _clean_ bedroom and bathroom. And yet you think I agree with your facilities? You have one very troubled mind General."

The General's grin fell. This girl made him feel like a total imbecile one minute and a complete bastard the other. What was it with women?

Ginny turned back to stare at her room in complete disgust. How could they send her into some hell-hole place like this? She sighed and walked straight out the door and to the mud filled wonderland of the outdoors.

The General followed her out and looked at her questioningly.

"May I see where I'm going to working at?" she requested politely.

He nodded and stared at her. She was a weird one, that. She wasn't intimidated by all his threats, but she seemed repulsed and unwilling to be residing in a lodge with dust. It was only dust for goodness sakes!

* * *

Ginny sighed with relief when she walked into the pristine white halls of Portsmouth's medical clinic. Not a speck of dust could be seen…but then neither could be injured soldiers. The beds were empty with crisp white sheets, which was highly unusual for a military base camp.

"Uhh…General Stoppard. Where are all the wounded people? This is a clinic, isn't it?" she asked, confused, her eyes following the nurses as they scurried along the corridor.

The General grinned. "There aren't any yet. You wait a week or two though. Our Special Forces squad are coming back from their assignment." He told her gleefully. "You'd better appreciate this week the best you can, because after that, you'll be so busy you won't even have time to wipe your ass after shitting."

Ginny stared at him. "General Stoppard, I can assure you, even if there is a dying soldier on my hands, if I shit, I will make time to wipe my ass."

And the General's grin fell.


	3. The Special Forces Unit

In spite of really detesting the General, Ginny did heed his advice and relaxed for the week before the Special Forces squad returned from their assignment. She took time to get to know her nurses, all of whom were exceptionally nice and warm hearted. She was very envious of people who were warm hearted, especially that she had lost her ability to be warm hearted a long time ago.

But what was really surprising was their willingness to work in a place like this when they had the opportunity to work they actually _wanted_ to come here – Portsmouth, where there was no civilization other than the horny soldiers – to work. When one of the sweet, little nurses had told her that they had volunteered to be stationed here, she didn't talk to her for days. Seriously, what kind of weirdo wanted to be planted smack bang in the middle of a place where there was no civilization…_at all_. She wasn't terribly rich and didn't have that many valuables, with the most valuable possession being her apartment, which was only placed in her possession by a lot of luck and two years of hard work and saving. Which wasn't great. It meant that it was two years without having a life.

She did enjoy her week _immensely_…but she was so bored. How could she spend six days just talking to her nurses – there were only seven of them to talk to. They were nice and all, but they were _too_ nice. She needed some sort of excitement in her life. Something that challenged her! Her room did that…for twenty seconds anyways. After two flicks with her wand, that challenge had been defeated, and she was once again left with that nagging boredom flag waving around in the back of her head.

She couldn't wait until the Special Forces returned from their assignment so she had something to do. Then finally, she would have something to do.

She got her wish soon enough. The S.F. returned, with holes in various parts of their bodies, signs of painful curses inflicted on their bodies, other men carrying the bodies of their friends, and all of them were covered with blood.

She stared at them as they pushed her aside to rush into the medical clinic. _'That's why they say be careful of what you wish for Gin. You've gotten yourself into some deep shit.'_ She thought to herself before she sighed and rushed into the clinic after the men.

She pulled out her wand as she ran down the corridor and entered the first ward. There were men lying desperately in pain on every single bed, their bloody soaking the earlier pristine white starched sheets. She hurried to the closest man screaming and groaning in pain. He had deep gashes everywhere on his body with painful looking boils and ulcers all over his body, and she suspected there were some inside his body too.

He reached out and grabbed her white coat. "Please!" he shrieked in agony as the boils erupted ten-fold, "Help me. Make it go away!! IT HURTS!"

Ginny placed her hand over his forehead and soothed him, placing the tip of her wand on his neck and murmured "_Medicor_," watching the young man's cries of pain soften as his boils and gashes were slowly disappearing. But she knew they would not completely disappear. The cure was only temporary and without the necessary measures, they would erupt again, with the pain doubling. She was beginning to feel extremely frustrated. She was only one healer who had to be healing many, many, _many _men. How could she be expected to heal any of them properly if she didn't have the time to? While she was healing this man properly, ten other soldiers could die.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she twirled around, ready to snap at them for disturbing her. But when she found it to be one of the nurses, she grinned gratefully. "Laura. Thank goodness you're here. I need to do all the preliminary healing. Can you do the rest? All the potions are in the storeroom and you know what to do…right? This one needs the _Expers Vomica _potion. Two doses every hour. And there are some gashes that aren't healing. Feed him some sleeping potion and stitch them up." She ordered.

"Ginny. Calm down. I'll do everything." Laura reassured her, smiling warmly.

Ginny smiled at her for an instant before dashing to her next patient.

A man with half his leg blown off.

She sighed and got cracking. After all, it'd be her fault if any of these men died.

She ended up working all day and all night and halfway into the next morning non-stop. And she was exhausted. She couldn't even look straight without seeing everything in waves…everything she looked at was spinning. Yet the work seemed to never stop. And she couldn't complain. The nurses were working harder than she was. They were maintaining constant vigil over their patients, keeping every schedule of potions and check-ups. And they were happy doing it too. Something she couldn't do.

"Healer Weasley!" a voice called from behind her.

Ginny turned slowly, squinting to keep everything from revolving. "Hi Laura. Are you still working?" she asked with a forced smile. Admittedly, it wasn't a very good one. But she had absolutely no energy left in her body to try harder.

"Ginny. You should rest. You look awful!" Laura scolded.

Ginny snorted. "Thanks Laura. You really know how to make me feel beautiful."

Laura pursed her lips. "This is no laughing matter Ginny. You look absolutely terrible. You haven't slept in two days and all you've been is working. You haven't even eaten, have you?"

"You've been doing the same thing Laura." Ginny reminded.

Laura frowned. "No we haven't Ginny. We're not super-human like you. We can't go without sleep. We have rosters and take turns in staying up. It's my turn so I have to go, but sleep! Go to your lodge and take a nice long nap. We've basically finished now anyways." She ordered.

Ginny smiled and weakly saluted.

Laura beamed. "Good girl. Now go!" she ordered before strolling off to the wards to work her shift.

Ginny watched her leave and stifled a huge yawn. She turned back around and started heeding the nurse's advice. And she would have listened to the whole thing and went to her lodge and sleep, if it wasn't for the lone figure limping in through the double doors of her clinic. She hurried to the soldier and grabbed him before he could collapse on the floor.

"Come on. Stay awake. Come on…come on. Stay awake. That's it." She urged soothingly.

"I can manage staying awake just fine Weasley. You don't have to keep codling me." A gruff reply came, laced with pain and torture. He doubled over, his hand clutching his stomach, and coughed, spitting out blood that splattered all over the shiny floor.

Ginny looked worriedly at the amount of blood on the floor and momentarily forgot how this soldier might know her name. "Shit, shit, shit. No room. Where do I put you? Oh shit." She muttered to herself as she tightened her clutch around him.

"You know, the first sign of insanity is talking to yourself right?" he hissed laboriously as sharp bouts of pain shot throughout his body.

"Uh huh. And you're in no position to be talking at all. Don't try to exert yourself. You'll need your energy to heal." Ginny chastised, as she desperately racked her brain for a place to put this soldier in. What was he doing arriving so late? He was supposed to come into the medical clinic as soon as he returned. She sighed. She had no choice but to put him in her office. It was the only place where she could put him on something where he could lie down.

She supported his weight as much as she could as they both hobbled down to the end of the corridor where her office was located. He was a heavy fellow…well…heavy for her anyways. And the walk was a long one with occasional stops when the young soldier had to stop to cough more blood up. He was a very bad condition. She hadn't even looked at his injuries and she could tell this man suffered much more than any other man brought forward. "Come on…just a little more to go." She comforted when the soldier's breathing became short, sharp wheezes.

"I'm fine Weasley." He said brusquely, trying to push her hands aside.

"Shut it asshole. You can't even breathe properly, so don't even try and tell me you're fine." She retorted crankily as they reached her office door. She opened it swiftly and they trudged into the room.

She tried not to drop him on the couch, and lay him down as gingerly as possible. "Are you still awake sunshine?" She asked worriedly, scared that she might have killed him while putting him on the couch.

"Shut up Weasley. I'm still awake." The man replied irritably.

Ginny sighed with relief. And her dizziness returned with full force. She swallowed hard as she tried to suppress her fatigue as she unbuttoned the soldier's uniform and assessed his injuries. It was worse than she expected. A three-inch wide hole had been _burnt_ into his stomach where the edges of the hole were scorched black. Without doing any tests on it, she knew it had been poisoned. By a single tear of a phoenix, which could lead to a very slow and excruciating death if it was not kept pure and was mixed with any other substance. "How…how did this happen?" she asked croakily, not believing her eyes.

"Shut up Weasley. And get to work." The soldier ordered, his teeth clenched with agonizing pain.

She did not have to be told again. She hurried to her personal cabinet where all her potions and equipment were kept and got out everything she thought she'd need for her patient. Including her batch of strong whiskey. She went back to him with all the materials and knelt beside him. "How long ago did you get this?" she asked as she busied herself with the whiskey.

"Two days."

"Two days?! Then why are you coming to me now? You should have come as soon as you arrived!" she scolded. "Sorry, but this may hurt a bit. Would you like a drink before I start?"

The soldier glanced at the whiskey bottle and smirked. "Drinking on the job, Weasley?"

Ginny glared at him and rethought her kind offer. "I take that as a no. And how do you know my name? I don't think I know you." And she tilted the whiskey bottle on top of his wound.

"Yes you dooooo…ah shit Weasley. That fucking kills." He hissed as the alcohol stung through his injury. "Fuck! What the fuck are you doing to me?"

Ginny frowned. "Language, language. If the nurses heard you, they'd have a heart attack. And I'm just cleaning your wound out. There's a lot of debris around and in it."

"You're language isn't that great either. You swear like a bloody sailor." He retorted, wincing. "You know there is such thing as a cleaning spell."

Ginny grinned. "Yes, well but I enjoy watching injured soldiers squirm and scream as I pour alcohol over their wounds. Being sadistic and all. No…but a cleaning spell doesn't clean as thoroughly as this does. And if I want to heal you up properly, your body has to be clean as possible." She explained.

Then she stopped, having cleaned the wound sufficiently enough. And she looked at him. Teeth gritted, fists clenched, very tall and well-built, with very visible muscles over his body, his face and hair matted with dirt and mud, but she suspected his hair would be either light brown or blonde…she couldn't be sure. And he had the clearest eyes of steely gray. He looked like some hardened criminal to her. No normal person was able to have that look of coldness in their eyes.

"So tell me…why are you coming to the clinic at this time if you came back two days ago?" Ginny asked, dabbing the surroundings of his injury.

"I had to report to Stoppard." He replied, sucking in his breath. That alcohol stung like a sonofabitch.

"That dickhead?" Ginny scowled. She put a beaker over his wound and muttered a quiet "_Egredior Venenum_." And waited slowly for all the poison to leave his body and into the glass beaker. It had to stored so that she could run some tests on it, and possibly find out exactly where it came from. And she might be able to send it to the nearest Specialist Potions Lab and have them come up with immunization or treatment remedies.

The soldier chuckled. "Yes that dickhead."

Ginny smiled back, but when she saw the mist emerging from the wound she gasped. It was black. Phoenix tears couldn't be black! It was supposed to be clear, no matter what substance it was mixed with! "What did they poison you with?" she demanded.

"Take a good guess."

"Phoenix tears. And…I don't know." Ginny admitted, still staring at the black mist.

"Phoenix tears and a drop of poison from the fangs of a Basilisk. One out of two right…impressive Weasley."

Basilisk. _Basilisk…you do remember __Virginia__? You were its mistress._ "A Basilisk?" she strangled out. "From where? There was only one! And that's in –."

"Hogwarts, Chamber of Secrets." The soldier finished for her.

Ginny stared at the soldier. "Who are you?"

The young soldier turned his head to face her, his eyes probing deeply into hers. "All the poison's out." He said, craftily evading her question.

Ginny frowned but took the beaker from his abdomen and clasped a lid over it, placing it on the coffee table beside her. She busied herself getting the sterilized needle and thread from the tray of materials she had brought with her earlier. "This is going to hurt a bit. But the hard bit's over…do you want me to give you a sleeping potion?"

"Weasley…you're torturing me. Just get the fucking shit over and done with." The soldier ordered, his teeth clenched.

She scowled and poked the needle head through his skin just a bit harder than necessary. He knew her name, wouldn't tell her his and he was an impatient and bossy cow. And he was annoying her.

"Bitch!" he rasped.

Ginny glared at him dangerously, pulling on the thread brutally. "Listen here asshole. I'll play nice, but only if you're nice." She warned.

The soldier looked up at her and smirked. "Never knew you had it in you Weasley."

Ginny didn't get a chance to retort, because at that exact moment, Nurse Laura Sheffield decided to walk in to obtain some more supplies for the patients. And when she walked in, she didn't expect to see the new Healer who had been awake for the past few nights and days to be disobeying her order to go take a rest, slouching over the Lieutenant with a sharp needle.

"Healer Weasley!" Laura reprimanded sharply. "I thought I told you go to sleep! You've been working all day and night!"

Ginny groaned. "Laura. I promise, I'll go to sleep…just give me a few minutes to stitch him up. He had poison all through his system." She assured, standing up to face her nurse.

Which was a very, _very_ bad idea. She was seeing stars.

"I don't think you're going to be stitching me up anymore Weasley. You're going to faint in the next thirty seconds." The soldier said amusedly.

Ginny tried ignoring the bright stars and growing darkness. "No I'm not you insolent asshole. I'm fine."

"Merlin! You're exhausted." The soldier observed.

"Nice to know your observation skills are up to scratch." She muttered before collapsing on the soft carpet of her office floor.


	4. Monty's Self Serve Brothel

Ginny fluttered her eyes open and looked up, trying to remember what happened and why she was lying in a hospital bed. Distorted fragments returned slowly and she groaned as she remembered the last image before she collapsed. That egotistical, arrogant soldier smirking at her.

"Healer Weasley?" A concerned voice of Nurse Laura Sheffield called from her bedside. "Are you feeling all right? Dizzy? Lightheaded? Woozy? Do you feel cold at all? This is why I told you to go to sleep. Now look at what's happened to you…you've been out for two days!"

Ginny sat up groggily on the bed and kicked her legs off the side, leaving her bare legs dangling from the edge. "Holy shit. Two days huh?" she whistled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She pushed herself from the bed and landed clumsily onto the floor. Which was cold. On her bare, _bare_ feet. "Ooh…fuck. That's really cold." She muttered darkly, still not feeling rested after those two days of hell, healing more than fifty very seriously injured soldiers…on her own.

"Language, language Weasley. The nurses would faint if they heard you." An amused voice came from the ward's entrance.

Ginny turned, and glared at the now cleaned up soldier who was a pain in her ass few nights ago. "You! What the hell are you doing here?"

The blonde soldier slowly strode into the ward, his heavy boots hardly making a noise on the hard, cold tiles. "Weasley. You nearly killed me…you couldn't even manage to stitch me up properly. And you call yourself a healer?" he taunted.

She scowled dangerously.

"Children!" the clear voice of Nurse Laura interrupted them, clearly entertained by all their banter. "Healer Weasley. I highly doubt you're in any condition to be getting up from bed. You're still very much exhausted."

Ginny didn't tear her eyes from the mysterious blonde soldier. And he didn't look away either. He seemed to be mocking her, with that ridiculous smirk of his, plastered on his smooth, cold face. It was dreadfully irritating, really.

"And you! Lieutenant Malfoy! I'd have expected much more from you. You have a hole in your stomach and you're annoying the only healer who can adequately heal you as of this moment." Nurse Laura scolded.

When Ginny heard Nurse Laura tell off the soldier – Lieutenant Malfoy is what she thought Nurse Laura call him – she smirked back at the infuriating officer. She didn't _have_ to heal him…if she decided that she was _oh so tired_ and couldn't stay awake long enough…she could probably leave him to die a very painful death. She could picture his tombstone. **Here lies Lieutenant Malfoy. Who died of a hole in his stomach.**

Then she did a double take. Actually…to put it more precisely, she did a triple take. She was really enjoying the image of _Lieutenant Malfoy's_ tombstone in her mind. But then she realized exactly _whose_ tombstone she was dreaming about. Lieutenant. Malfoy. Draco-fucking-Malfoy. "Oh fuck. Malfoy? Lieutenant Malfoy? As in Draco Malfoy? Oh fuck." She exclaimed.

Lieutenant Draco Malfoy stared at her, his smirk growing. "Language Weasley. You don't want to make the nurses faint." He mocked.

Ginny scowled as she groaned inwardly. She should have known. His light, platinum blonde hair and that stupid smirk was a dead giveaway. She couldn't believe she was so stupid! Harry had even warned her! And she forgot. She was stupid enough to forget about a certain Malfoy that would be stationed here. "Careful Malfoy. You do want to live…don't you?" she replied just as sweetly.

Draco stepped closer and closer to the fuming red head until he was standing right in front of her. He knew that the girl wouldn't back away…she was one stubborn little female. He stooped low and turned his face slightly towards her face. "Well…would you kill me?" he murmured directly into her ear.

Ginny put both her hands on his chest and pushed him away forcefully. And she didn't miss a beat. "Yes." She snapped.

Draco grinned lazily and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until Ginny heaved a sigh and threw her hands up in defeat. "Fine." She said aggravated. "But only this once." She grabbed him by his collar and dragged him on to the bed where she motioned for him to lie down. She walked to the opposite end of the ward where all the equipment was stored and took out each instrument carefully, laying them on the silver tray. Taking the tray, she walked back to where Malfoy was waiting for her.

"You know. For a very stubborn little girl, you seemed to have fallen under my charm pretty easily." Draco noted with just a _touch_ of haughtiness.

Ginny gritted her teeth as she pulled the thread through the small eye of the needle.

"But then again. I don't really blame you. Who doesn't fall under the Malfoy charm?"

Ginny poised the needle head at the opening of Malfoy's clean wound. "Oh Malfoy?" she cooed. "Don't you remember when I was healing you a few nights ago, and you decided to make a stupid statement just as I was going to stitch you up? Well…guess what? It's going to happen again." And she shoved the needle through brutally, feeling a great deal of pleasure seeing the pain pass through his eyes.

"_Bitch_." He cursed.

Ginny smirked down at him. "Yes…I believe that's exactly what you said that night as well. Funny isn't it? It's like some sort of Déjà vu."

"Weasley." He gritted out.

Ginny gazed innocently down at him. "Yes Malfoy? Is there something you wanted?"

A deep frown was plastered on his face, but once that simple question left Ginny's mouth, he smirked. "Would you give me anything I asked for, Weasley?" he asked devilishly.

Ginny scowled, narrowing her eyes at her victim. "NO!"

Malfoy's smirk widened. "Then why did you ask me if I wanted anything?"

"It's called common courtesy Malfoy!" she clenched out, turning the needle around to make another stitch along his smooth abdomen. "And it's something that you obviously don't have."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Now that's a common misconception held by you Weasley's."

Ginny snorted. "And I supposed you are the most charming and well-mannered male on the face of the earth?"

"As a matter of fact, I do believe I am."

Ginny rolled her eyes, and stopped stitching for a minute to look at him. "No, you're not."

"And how do you know that?"

She leaned in closer until there was two inches of gap between them. "Because you're a male…and there is no such thing as a charming and well-mannered male. Males…are anything but. They're horny, and they _love_ sex. Sex doesn't really make someone charming and well-mannered."

Draco moved in an inch closer. "Well…you can sleep with me and find out if that little theory of yours is true."

Ginny laughed and pulled back, returning to stitching his stomach. "I don't think you're in any condition to be offering sex to any lady…or man…which ever you prefer. You have a gaping hole in your stomach, and I've only just begun the process of stitching it up." Then she paused, a thought occurring to her. "Malfoy. I've been out cold for two days. That means you've been walking around with a hole in your stomach for four. What is the matter with you? You could have easily asked one of the nurses to stitch you up…they're trained to stitch up hole!"

Draco pretended to look disappointed. "So you're not going to take up on my offer to sleep with me? That's a shame Weasley…and I was looking so forward to it."

Ginny snorted, and looped the thread into the standard end-stitch, and cut off the excess thread. "All done now Lieutenant." She said, patting his stomach. "Just come back to me in a week and we'll get those stitches out."

He smirked as he sat up from the hospital bed he had been occupying. "Still no sex?"

Ginny grinned as she started packing away her equipment, and sorted out the instruments that needed to be cleaned and sterilized. "Come on Malfoy…you can do better than a Weasley. But I'll tell you what. I can recommend you to a place I've heard that is extremely _self-satisfying_. It's called _Monty's Self Serve Brothel_ and it's easy as tossing in some floo powder into a fireplace, yelling out the name of the place, and the girls are all yours Malfoy. Enjoy."

Draco jumped from the hospital bed and onto the floor on his feet, chuckling. "I'll see you in a week Weasley. And try not to swear…we really don't need the nurses having heart attacks on us." And started his way out of the ward, his arrogant stroll back in place.

Ginny groaned, but couldn't help the corners of her mouth lifting slightly with mirth, and went back to sorting out her instruments.

"Oh…and by the way Weasley." He called from the entrance.

Ginny turned to look at him expectantly.

"_Monty's Self Serve Brothel_ isn't as great as you make it to be! It's cheap and its shit quality! And you shouldn't know about this stuff…unless you have a tendency to like girls." He said across the stark hall.

Ginny could not help it, although God forbid, she _did_ try. She burst out laughing…a laugh she hadn't been privileged to for the past week during her stay at Portsmouth. "Thanks Malfoy…for pointing that out." She yelled back. "I really appreciate it."


	5. Dinner Date

**A/N:** Hello. It has been suggested to me by one of the wonderful reviewers (**fuzzycat982**) that I should have an A/N at the beginning of each chapter. Thank you for your suggestion and I promise that I will do everything I can to remember to do that. I have also received many, many, _many_ suggestions that I make each chapter longer. I promise that I will try my hardest to do this also. Many thanks to all those who have reviewed (I'm sorry if I don't mention your name specifically. There are just too many of you)…it really does make my heart swell when I see reviews from readers and especially to **Olei** who thought I put a lot of thought behind it (and I apologize for letting you down…but all the medical lingo is actually made up. But thank you nonetheless). Special thanks also to **storms-tornado** for pointing out that Ginny's name is actually Ginevra, and not Virginia (I know this, but I have chosen to ignore the fact. I prefer Virginia waaayyy over Ginevra); and to **lowe **(I know the pacing is really quick and really unrealistic…but I'm impatient, and I want to hurry to the good bits). **THANK YOU ALL!!!**

* * *

In less than a week, Healer Virginia Weasley and her crew of twenty-seven nurses had managed to heal more than half of their wounded soldiers and send them back into training with their strength and energy levels as high as they were required to have to stay in the Special Forces Unit. And the ones that Ginny was unable to send back into training were extremely alive and well in their hospital beds, just waiting for her go-ahead signal.

And…in less than a week, Lieutenant Draco Malfoy could not take it any longer. The bloody long line of stitches were irritating the shit out of him, not allowing him to do anything except scratch it all day. So in the end, he decided to make his hospital visit two whole days earlier than intended…but having the little Weasley reasonably attractive didn't really hinder that idea too much. He looked down where the black thread was keeping his hole in his stomach together and cursed. That bloody little thing was driving him absolutely insane.

So that was how Ginny Weasley was able to experience the wonderful _charming _and _well-mannered­_ Draco Malfoy. At his bloody finest.

He stormed into the base camp medical clinic ready to curse all the magic from her body for making him go through such nuisance. But he didn't really expect her be in her office with her dangerous wand pointed directly at his supervising officer. Groaning, he shook his head and opened her office door and let himself in. "Weasley…didn't know you were into being a dominatrix. Pick the tips from _Monty's Self-Serving Brothel_?" he drawled lazily, closing the door behind him.

The General look extraordinarily relieved that his best officer had interrupted that dangerous chit from killing him.

Draco couldn't help but grin slightly at the sight though. The redhead healer sure did live up to her Weasley name – hotheaded and without a care for the world. And at that moment, they both had one thing in common. They both despised the base camp's supervising officer. But he couldn't allow for the high and mighty to be killed just yet. His job couldn't be completed with him dead. So he reluctantly went over to where the redhead was pointing her wand steadily at the overweight General.

"Malfoy, I'm not stupid. I know you're here to stop me, but you're not going to, unless you want me to curse you too. I think you'd remember your fifth year?" Ginny warned, her voice unusually calm and even.

Draco raised his eyebrow. This was not the voice of a normal, furious witch. Any other person in this kind of situation would be shaking with rage, and ready to curse the life out of their victim, but they'd also be trembling and unsure of exactly what their plan would be. They would not be like Virginia Weasley who knew _exactly_ was she was doing. "Of course I remember fifth year, Weasley. And you've just reminded me that I have a score to settle with you."

Ginny glanced at him, smirking. "Would you really harm a defenseless, poor, little _girl_, Malfoy?"

He took a step closer to her. And another step. And another.

Ginny could feel the warmth his body was radiating all around her. He was _that_ close to her. But she didn't falter. That bloody idiot of a General had nearly killed two of her patients, and he suggested killing all of them. She had really tried to keep her cool, but it was getting too much for her to handle. She asked him to leave the hospital very nicely, but when he didn't comply, she pulled her wand out on him.

Draco lowered his head down to her level, his lips just grazing the rim of her ear. "Of course I would, sweetheart. And don't you ever forget it."

Ginny could feel the little shivers run down her spine. But she kept her wand held straight at the General's throat. "Mmm…good. I'd be pretty disappointed if it was any different."

Draco grinned. "Good."

"Want to tell me why you're trying to distract me from killing this asshole?" she demanded, irritation creeping into her voice.

Draco took a step back from her and dropped into the armchair behind her. "Well, I become aware that you may have just healed me in the way that'd be most irritating to me."

At this Ginny at to smile. Well, of course she did. She was a Weasley, and he was Malfoy after all.

"Thought so." Draco said wryly. "Want to make it go away?"

Ginny looked at him sweetly. "Give me one good reason to make it go away. You've been bugging me ever since you got hurt and entered my hospital. I thought that'd be a pretty good payback."

Draco hid a grin. This girl was really something. He pretended to think about it, and looked at the General who was sweating like a pig and looking at him desperately. "I'll tell you what Weasley. I'll make you a fair deal. You make it go away, and release the General, and I'll help you kill him later."

Ginny laughed. "How?"

"In any way you want to kill him, sweetheart."

Ginny cocked her head, deep in thought. "How good are you at killing people without much mess?"

The corners of Draco's mouth twitched. "I'm a soldier. I can kill anyone in any way possible. And killing people cleanly is my specialty. Do we have a deal, Weasley?"

Ginny nodded.

"Want to lower your wand now?" Draco asked, secretly hoping she'd leave the General some reminder of her fury.

She read his mind. "In just a moment. _Serpensortia_." She conjured up a very big snake. A very harmless one, actually. But the General didn't have to know that. She watched the General's eyes widen with fear and run down the hallway and out of the exit, screaming with the snake hot on his tails.

Draco fought the urge to smile and stood up from the armchair.

Ginny glanced at him, smiling proudly. "Took a leaf out of your book Malfoy. It was a wonderful spell, that."

"Yeah. That was the same thought that crossed my mind too."

* * *

Ginny had him seated on one of the unoccupied hospital beds and made some effort of small talk as she got her supplies ready. "How did you figure out that I purposely made them itch?"

Draco gave her a dark look. "My intelligence isn't affected when I get injured Weasley. You've got to remember that."

"My bad. I promise to remember that next time, Malfoy." Ginny said sarcastically. "Have you been here long?"

"Long enough."

"Since you graduated?" she asked, as she reached for the scissors and motioned for him to lie down.

"No."

She snipped off the first stitch. "Want to give me answers that are longer than two words?"

"You're very nosy."

She looked at him. "Three words. What an improvement. And this is the usual drill. It's what we were taught at medical school. 'Make the patient comfortable by constantly talking and making small talk.'" She quoted. Another snip.

"They really teach that at medical school?" he raised his eyebrow.

"Yep. Except, they use a bit more technical terms than I do." Another snip.

"When did you graduate from medical school?"

Ginny looked up from his wound. "This is definitely a turn-around. Normally I'm the one asking all the questions."

"Don't your patients want to know more about you?" he asked.

Ginny snipped again, grinning. "Sure. They want to know when I can make time to go on a date with them."

Draco grinned.

Ginny pulled the end of the thread from his wound and tugged it out of his flesh gently. "If you could have just waited another few days, you wouldn't have to come to me." She told him, frowning at the healing wound. It was not a pleasant sight, and the nearly closed gash was beginning to split again.

"Get real Weasley. It was annoying as hell."

Ginny grinned at him as she reached for her wand. "That was the idea, Malfoy."

"I was injured Weasley. You can't blame me for that."

Ginny looked up at him, her grin widening. "Is that an apology I hear from you?" she teased, pointing the tip of her wand at his wound. "_Simmindo_." And watched at the pink wound heal and disappear, leaving no trace of an injury.

"That wasn't that hard to do, now was it? Why couldn't you just do that from the beginning?" he asked.

Ginny glared at him. "Don't tempt me, Malfoy. My wand could _accidentally_ find itself making another wound on your body any time soon."

"Would you kiss it better?"

Ginny laughed. "Just get your shirt back on."

"When do you finish your shift?"

"Now. Why?"

"Would you like to have dinner with me?"

"Depends. What's for dinner?" Merlin help her. She was _flirting_ with him. And she was enjoying it.

"Involves champagne." He grinned.

Ginny glanced at him. _Champagne_? "I'm there."

* * *

Ginny had walked to her quarters in a bit of a daze after Malfoy had walked out of the infirmary with a short – _I'll come pick you up from your lodge at 6_. Since when did Weasley's accept dates from Malfoy's. And since when did they start getting _friendly_ with each other? It was ridiculous, and yet it had happened, just less than five minutes ago.

She sighed and she opened the door of her lodge and entered.. _I'm just thinking too much here. We'll go back to our normal selves tomorrow_. She went over to the fireplace and thought for a moment. Perhaps it was time to check up on her mother. Molly Weasley would probably be sick with worry and bugging everyone in the household until her baby daughter called to confirm she arrived safely.

She threw in the green powder. "Mum! Mother!" she called out.

Molly Weasley came running in front of the fireplace and at once began her lecture. "Are you okay? Are you eating well? Are you scared? Are the men there savages? I can't believe it took you two weeks to floo me! For goodness sakes! I was sick with worry! Do you have any idea how concerned everyone has been? Even Harry has been calling in every day to see if you've floo-ed."

"Harry?"

"You're asking for Harry? For the love of Merlin, Ginny! Is that all you can think about? You're mother has been dying with worry here, and all you can think about is Harry?! You can't like him Gin. He's _married_. And he has a child. Think about Lavender. If she knew you were sweet on Harry, she'd be devastated!"

Ginny's mouth dropped.

"And for goodness sakes! Close your mouth Ginny. You're going to attract flies!"

"Uh…mum. I'm all right!" she tried reassuring her. "And I'm sorry for not floo-ing earlier. It's been really busy here, and I haven't had the time." Liar, liar, pants on fire. The first week you were as free as a bird.

"Don't lie dear. You're very bad at it." Molly admonished.

Ginny groaned. "I've got to go now, mum. I just floo-ed to tell you I'm okay."

"Gin?!" Ron's face appeared next to their mother's.

Ginny inwardly groaned and forced a smile. "Hi Ron. How are you doing? How's Hermione? When's the baby due?"

Ron's face split into a wide grin. "The healer told us the baby's due in less than a week. How's hell down there? Any good? Mum's been going crazy for the last two weeks."

Ginny laughed. "Yeah, I could see that from the welcome she gave me."

"Ginny!" Her mother screeched.

"Sorry mum. Oh. I have to go now. I've got a date." Ginny explained.

Both her mum's and Ron's eyes widened and all the questions started shooting.

"Really, dear? That's wonderful!"

"Who's it with? Anyone I know?"

"Is he a nice fellow?"

"Is he a dick?"

"Ron! When did you start seeing him?"

"He'd better not be one of the soldiers, Gin. They're known to be less-than-moral."

Ginny laughed. "He's known to be quite 'less-than-moral', and yes, he's a dick. He's not a nice fellow mum, and both of you would know him very well."

"So…who is it?!" Molly demanded impatiently.

"Draco Malfoy." Ginny answered, mentally preparing herself for the fireworks.

"BLOODY HELL! GIN!" Ron yelled, their mother not very far behind.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT KIND OF PERSON HE IS? He's got you under a spell hasn't he? What is it? The imperius? Gin! You can fight it!" her mother screamed.

Ginny panicked and cut off their link. If she let it continue, she'd go deaf, or her mother and six brothers would come storming into Portsmouth in the next ten minutes, and she couldn't allow for herself to get embarrassed like that. She sighed and sat on the edge of her bed, weighing the pros and cons of telling her mother and Ron.

There was a knock on her door, and she rose to answer it.

Draco Malfoy. Right on time.

"What was all the shouting?" he asked as he entered.

Ginny laughed. "My mother and Ron."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What did they want?"

"Well, I thought it was time for me to tell my mother I arrived safely and that I was perfectly fine. And then I told them I had a dinner date with you, and they weren't exactly the happiest of people." She explained, walking to her closet and removing clothes from the hangers.

He chuckled. "Do you enjoy making your family member's go crazy?"

Ginny grinned at him. "It's a normal routine for me now, I think." She answered, and went into the bathroom, with a fresh change of clothes in her arms.

Draco waited patiently for her to change and come out of her bathroom.

And when she came out, he grinned lazily at her, not hiding the fact that he was indeed checking her out. From top to bottom. "Shall we?" he offered his arm out to her.

* * *

Ginny had no idea where he was taking her. They walked over to the dining area, passed it, went on further, then underground, then through many tunnels, and finally through a wooden door, where she was greeted with a homey room with a crackling fire lit up in the fireplace and a table set for two. "Where are we?" she asked.

Draco grinned as he helped her into her seat and sat down himself. "The kitchens."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him. "The kitchens?"

"I mentioned to the house-elves that I needed a place for me to accompany the Healer on a date, and they set this up. I've never seen the kitchens like this."

Ginny laughed. "It's impressive. It actually reminds me of civilization."

The corners of his mouth quirked up. "Champagne?" he offered.

Ginny lifted up her champagne flute up and waited for him to pour her a glass. "Now we're getting closer to civilization. How'd you get the champagne?"

"I got it sent over from my manor." He answered, pouring himself a glass. "Well, what shall we toast to?"

Ginny thought for a moment then smiled. "What about to you actually getting me to agree to going on a date with you. It's the first time I've ever accepted a dinner proposal from a patient."

Draco smiled amusedly. "I think I can drink to that."

And as they both took a sip, the first course appeared in front of them.

Dinner was quickly finished, and their appetites easily filled. And so, they both took a seat on the rug, in front of the roaring fire with nothing except for their champagne flutes and the never-finishing bottle of champagne.

"So, why did you accept a dinner proposal from me?" Draco asked her.

Ginny laughed softly. "None of my other patients ever proposed to help me kill someone before."

"I knew there'd be a good explanation for that." He said evenly. "I thought you were some legal hotshot who would never break the law."

Ginny turned to face him and grinned. "For every law, there is always a loophole."

"Can't argue with that." He poured her another glass.

"Why'd you offer to kill him with me?" she asked him, taking another sip.

"I hated the itching."

"Liar."

Draco grinned. "Caught me. I want to kill him as well. But not now. Now is too messy for me."

"Okay. Messy. I can understand that."

"How did you plan on killing him anyway?" he asked her curiously.

"Well, I had to think a bit harder than usual to think of a method. I was going to burn him alive and then throw all his ashes into the ocean."

Draco laughed. "Merlin, you should have been in Slytherin."

Ginny furrowed her eyebrows. "I was supposed to. But I convinced the hat to put me in Gryffindor. I thought it was the best house in the planet."

"You were _supposed_ to be in Slytherin?" Draco repeated. "And now?"

"And now what?"

"What do you think is best house now?"

Ginny grinned, but she didn't answer, just taking another sip of her wonderful champagne. "I've got a question to ask you."

"What?"

"Are we acting nice to each other?"

"Yes, I believe we are."

"Why?"

Draco took the champagne glass from her hands. "I think you've had too much to drink."

Ginny shook her head, taking the glass back. "Not yet. I'll tell you when I've had too much to drink."

"But you're being nice to me."

Ginny thought for a moment. "I think you might be right. I may have had too much to drink."

Draco laughed.

"But that means you've had too much to drink as well. You're being nice to _me_." Ginny argued. "Then, perhaps, we can just ignore the fact that we're being nice to each other and keep drinking."

"How long have you been a healer for, Weasley?" he asked.

"Nearly two weeks. This is my first post as a fully-fledged Healer."

"And you decided to come _here_? Are you out of your bloody mind? What made you choose here out of all places? I thought you would have chosen Mungo's or something."

Ginny sent him a dark look. "I _would_ have. Except that stupid idiot, Stoppard, blackmails all valedictorians who graduate from the medical school, and so I had no choice but to come here."

This got his attention. "What'd he blackmail you with?"

Ginny's look became even darker. "My career."

Draco regarded her carefully. "You're a terrible liar. You don't give a damn about your career."

Ginny looked at him, surprised. She was so sure she could get away with just this little lie. "I can lie." She argued.

"Given the circumstances are desperate." He added for her. "What made you accept this position?"

Ginny shrugged. "My future I guess. You were right. I don't give a fig about my career. At first I just wanted to get married, have kids and live comfortably for the rest of my life."

"But?"

She grinned sardonically. "I grew tired of comfortable. I saw my parents, all my sister-in-laws, my friends, and decided I wanted a bit more than comfortable. But it seems asking for more-than-comfortable was a bit too much to ask for, and I began to doubt I'd ever get married and have kids, and live with a happily-ever-after. So instead of continuing my bullshit course at graduate school, I applied for medical school and got in. And so, here I am."

"You could have continued law school. You nearly finished that."

She glanced at him sharply. It seemed he knew too much about her. "How'd you know about that?"

He grinned lazily. "I have my sources."

"And you're scaring me, Malfoy. Even my mother doesn't know about that."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "She doesn't know you went to law school? For three years you were at that school, and you didn't bother to tell her?"

"Ahh. But I _did_ tell her about medical school."

"Why'd you drop out of law school?"

"Hmm. At first, I wanted to go into the ministry, some legal profession. Maybe even a diplomat if I was lucky, but then I got acquainted to the Minister of Magic a week before my graduation, and decided if I went into the ministry, I'd kill him. So I dropped out, and applied for a transfer. As for keeping it a secret from my mother, it was easy. I pretended I had a strong bout of wanting to become independent, applied for a job as a nurse and moved out."

"Why medicine?" he asked.

Ginny was becoming increasingly aware of him being very, _very_ close to her. When he moved closer, she didn't know, but she suddenly felt the need to swallow. "I had the experience of a nurse, and that helped me a lot. But I thought if I was going to make a career out of it, I'd might as well go into something that was beneficial to other people."

"And?"

Ginny laughed. "And it made it a whole lot easier to kill people. You learn a lot about that in medical school."

Draco grinned at her. "I should have known."

"Well, now can I ask you questions?"

"Shoot."

"Will you give me more than two-word answers?"

"What about three-words?"

Ginny gave him a dark glare. "Try to make it substantial."

Draco thought about it. "As long as it doesn't pry too deeply."

"I don't know what you're complaining about. You've just figured out some of my deepest, darkest secrets, and you want me to stay on the surface? I don't think so."

"I didn't go that deep. You have deeper, darker secrets."

Ginny sighed. "Fine. How long have you been working here?"

"Three months."

"You've been here for three months? _Three months_? And you're a lieutenant?" She demanded incredulously. "How'd you manage that?"

He grinned. "I have my ways."

"What did you do after Hogwarts?"

"I started my life Weasley. Finally decided kill my father and begin something I was good at."

"You killed your father?" she asked, aghast.

Draco laughed, although whether there was humor in it, was debatable. "The Minister was so fucking glad that he didn't press charges or order an investigation."

"I can imagine." She replied wryly. "What did you begin? What are you good at?"

Draco shrugged, stretching out and lying down. "Killing people. Hurting people. Threatening people. That sort of thing."

Ginny's eyes widened with interest. "So you'd be excellent at killing Stoppard?"

He smiled. "I can do more than kill Stoppard."

"Why are you here?"

"Pass."

Ginny eyed him warily. "_What_ are you?"

Draco thought about his answer for a while. "Well, I'm not sure. I'm just many things."

"Screw this." She sighed, lying down next to him. "You're too complicated. Too hard to figure out. I've had enough."

Draco rolled over, so half of him was on her, and grinned at her. "Not as complicated as you. I can figure everyone out, but you. I don't think I'll ever be able to figure you out."

Ginny looked at him, her eyes wide. Gosh, was wasn't even fully on top of her, and she was finding it difficult to breathe. _Imagine what it'd be like to have **all** of him on top of you_. "Malfoy."

"Mm."

"I think you're right. I've had too much to drink. I can't even remember how much I've drunk." She said, her heart thumping loudly.

"Eight glasses."

"Of champagne?"

Draco laughed, lifting his hand up to her face. "Yes."

Ginny jolted at the first movement of contact. "And you? How many have you had?"

He trailed his fingers down the length of her face. "Ten."

"Do you think I could pass off as being drunk?" she asked, her breathing become more and more ragged, and wanting more and more the satisfaction of being kissed.

"Maybe." Amusement filled his voice, as he lowered his head, but still not contact was made.

"Good. Do you think you can kiss me now?"

"Do you want me to kiss you?"

Ginny nodded. "No."

He smiled. "Maybe you should make up your mind first."

But even as he said that, he kissed her, and fireworks exploded in her brain.


	6. A Mercenary?

Ginny winced as she felt the sunlight directly hit her in the eyes. "That's the bloody last time I'm drinking champagne." she swore to herself, as she blinked, trying to stop the spinning inside her brain. Which was _not_ working. Not by a long shot. She groaned as she sat up and felt the full force of her hangover. She was going to _kill_ Malfoy for giving her the alcohol!

She didn't know how she did it, but she managed to stumble out of her warm, comfortable bed, and trip and land face down, facing the hard floor with much hated disgust.

The world was spinning, and the fall only added bright stars to the steroid-affected merry-go-round. She lay still for a full minute, contemplated what _smart_ move she should make next, and decided to try and call for help.

"Ergh."

Ginny frowned, and groaned. "Great going, _Virginia__. Great way to show off your extensive vocabulary_." She commended herself sarcastically. "And even a better way to call for help. Wonderful idea, genius."

"And what the hell was that?" a very distinctly male voice came from her doorway, laced with obvious humor and amusement.

"Arh harhe yeugh." She spat out, glaring at the floor, imaging the carpet was Draco Malfoy's disgustingly annoying face.

"Yes. Okay. Would you like to repeat that?" he said laughter clearly evident in his voice. Then he walked over to where she lay, completely immobile, and crouched down. "How is it down there on the floor?"

If she hadn't had such a pounding headache, she would have screamed and punched the living daylights out of him. However, she was in no condition to even think about screaming, let alone going through the highly difficult process of opening in her mouth, preparing her vocal chords, forcing all her power behind her vocal chords, and releasing all that out in the most feminine and polite manner possible. Instead, she just opted to glaring hard at the imaginary picture of Draco Malfoy's face on the floor. Conveniently placed right in front of her face for her amusement.

She felt strong hands slip under her arms, and hoist her up smoothly and effortlessly. 'Oh goodie' she thought to herself, when she found herself, face-to-face with the moron who had been responsible for the godforsaken position she was in right now. 'A better glaring target.'

"You okay, Weasley?" he asked, concern clear in his voice.

She glared at him, but the full effect was ruined by the bright sunlight which was sweeping through the crack of her door. She squinted, and groaned. "I hate you. I hate you and that bloody sun. You're both full of shit, and ruin my day."

He laughed, and sat her down on the edge of her bed. "Hang on...I've got something you might be interested in." he told her, reaching into one of the many pockets on his green uniform.

Ginny growled. "It'd better be good. The only thing between me and wanting to kill you is the fact that my wand is in my robe pocket. And I don't know where my robes are."

He smirked, and handed her a small vial. "You'll love me for this, Weasley."

"Hangover potion?" she laughed. "I do love you. And I'll probably love you for the rest of the day."

"Only for a day, Weasley?" he asked. "That's fairly disappointing. I was expecting at least a week."

She laughed at him. "Don't push your luck, Malfoy." She shot back, reaching over to snatch the vial from his hands. She popped the cork off as soon as she laid hands on the small glass vial and drank it in one gulp, ignoring the horrid taste, but reveling in the fact that in a matter of seconds she could yell and scream and punch the living daylights out of Malfoy...just how her heart has yearned for it just a few minutes ago in her full found misery.

He sat down on the chair near the bed, and regarded her, smirking with amusement. She was really a baffling character. Outwardly, she was the loud, talkative, typical hot-blooded Weasley. Underneath that, was the murderous, vengeful, _fully-developed_ woman...and yet, underneath it all, she was still the innocent, chaste temptress who held the interest of all males.

"Oh Malfoy." Ginny called out, in a sing-song voice.

"What?"

Ginny smiled brightly at him. "I'm going to kill you." She told him straightforwardly, taking pleasure in seeing his face turn from the arrogant laziness to slight alarm and confusion.

"Oh? And why is that?" he asked, raising one eyebrow at her.

She glared at him. A very huge change from the big smile she shot at him a few seconds ago. "This is entirely all your fault. _This_ would have never have happened if you had fed me your EIGHT glasses of champagne."

"I fed it to you?" he repeated. "You're the one who drank it. I didn't exactly force it down your throat."

"But you were the one who kept pouring the damn thing in the glass all night!"

"You told me to, Weasley." He drawled.

"WHY DID YOU LISTEN TO ME!" she shrieked.

Draco shook his head, and chuckled. She really was a big mystery. "I thought you were going to love me for a week. Killing me isn't really showing the love. Where _is_ the love, Weasley?"

"I said I was only going to love you for a _day_!" she yelled.

"Fine, Weasley. One day. Still, killing me today won't be loving me." He told her smugly, taking great pleasure in seeing the changing emotions on her face. It was a fresh sight for him to see. Seeing people who readily wore their hearts on their sleeve, and thought displaying every emotion was a normal occurrence, was a rare sight for him to see. Normally, people he associated with acted like him. Cold, aloof, ruthless, merciless. They were all killers, including him.

"There'll always tomorrow." She told him, still pissed off at him for feeding her the ghastly drink normal people called _champagne_. She'd prefer to call it the drink from hell, personally.

Draco chuckled, rising from his seat, and stretched all the kinks in his body. "Until then, fair maiden." He said dryly. "I shall be looking forward to that day."

Ginny watched as he turned and walked out the door and a feral growl emitted from her throat. She couldn't kill him...after all; she had _promised_ she'd love him for a day. So she chose to pick up a random shoe from the floor and pegged it at his retreating back.

Unfortunately for her, her anger and frustration caused her to over aim her throw, and the shoe hit the wall, a little left from his head, solidly.

The door closed, and she cursed as she heard the annoying arrogant chuckle of his, through thickness of the walls.

* * *

By mid-afternoon, Healer Virginia Weasley was feeling her fine, wonderful self once again, and braved the stinking bright sun to go to the mess hall for lunch. She thankfully did not run into Lieutenant Draco Malfoy on her way there, or at the mess hall, and began to relax, finally taking in the view of the busy, sex-starved-men-filled, mess hall. Most of them were dirty with training and drills they had been put through during the day, and all smiled charmingly at the beautiful goddess-of-a-healer who had saved them.

"Healer Weasley?" a young enthusiastic soldier dared up to talk to her.

Ginny turned and smiled warmly at the man who had come into the infirmary with his leg blown off. "Hello Private Johnson. How can I help you?"

Private Martin Johnson grinned charmingly, and flushed into a soft crimson. "Uh…I just uh…wa-wanted to err, tha-thank you." He stuttered diffidently. "My leg's all be-better now."

She grinned back at him. "That's good news. How is your training going? Hard on your leg?" she asked politely as she and the Private moved in line for the food. "I hope you're not overtiring your leg. You might injure it again if you do too much strenuous training."

Another Private next to him laughed. "Lieutenant Malfoy sure works us hard, but he would never kill us."

Ginny raised her eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Sure. He's hard. We've never trained so hard in our lifetime, but he would never kill us." He assured her.

She laughed with sparkling clarity. "Private McMahon. After your assignment you came to my infirmary on the verge of death. A second later, and you would have been killed."

The soldier shrugged, eyes twinkling with cheerful charisma. "That wasn't training. When we're on assignment we're supposed to be on our own."

"Supposed to be?"

"Every man for himself type of thing. But Lieutenant Malfoy tries to make sure he takes care of all of us." He told her, holding out his tray so that the cook could dump the spectacular foodstuff on his plate.

Ginny frowned. That description didn't really fit the Malfoy she knew. "Malfoy?" she asked curiously.

"Do you know him, Healer Weasley?" he asked her.

"We went to school together." She told him.

The two Privates laughed. "Must have been lots of fun." McMahon noted.

Ginny furrowed her brows, deep in thought. "Not really. He was a big tyrant. Tell me about him. How did he become a Lieutenant if he's only been here for 3 months?"

McMahon and Johnson looked at each other.

"Well the thing is, Healer Weasley, Lieutenant Malfoy's like a professional bona fide mercenary. They even say that the Ministry uses him for top-secret assassinations and such." Johnson told her, looking around just to make sure his commanding officer was not in earshot.

"_Mercenary_!" she repeated, stunned to her core.

They both nodded, extremely solemn.

"They say he has one hundred ways of killing a man with his bare hands." Johnson whispered.

"And a million ways of killing a man _with_ an object." McMahon added.

Dear Merlin. She had thought he was only _joking_ when he told her he was more the efficient when it came to killing someone. "Then why is he _here_?"

McMahon shrugged indifferently. "Nobody knows. Nobody wants to know, really. Just as long as he's not here to kill them, doesn't concern anyone." He told her, matter-of-factly.

"How does everyone know he's a mercenary?" she asked.

"It's pretty hard to keep a secret like that if you're a commanding officer. People who know people who know people who know about people tell them these things." He explained, walking to the nearest empty table.

Ginny and Johnson followed him.

"Are you interested in him, by any chance?" Johnson asked, seating himself across from her.

Ginny laughed. "Me? Interested in Ferret Malfoy? That's a silly question. Of course not!"

McMahon sighed. "Look Healer Weasley. I'll be really frank with you. Every soldier in this mess hall, and beyond has the hots for you. He's a good guy, but he's very dangerous. We've seen him in action. We've experienced his ruthlessness. The best advice anyone here can give you is to stay away from him."

_'He's as dangerous as they come.'_

Ginny froze as Harry's words came crashing inside her head. She forced a laugh. "You think amazingly alike my friend. But I don't like Malfoy."

"Whatever you say, Healer Weasley."


	7. A Brother's Wonderful Surprise

Ginny sat down on the rocking-chair in front of the infirmary, frowning thoughtfully at the new revelations the two Privates had generously bestowed onto her. It was a strange thing to know that Draco Malfoy was a mercenary. He was, after all, supposed to be a pansy little brat who knew nothing of gaining reputations through manual work. He really confused the _bananas_ out of her! And why in Merlin's name was she even _trying_ to figure him out for? It was a damn impossible job.

Deep in her reverie, she didn't notice two strangers enter the base camp, the taller one stomping angrily, and the shorter one trying to pull him back. Obviously the shorter one was _not_ successful. They came to a halt in the centre of the huge dirt pitch the three main buildings stood around.

"VIRGINIA REUBY WEASLEY! COME OUT HERE THIS INSTANT!" the taller one roared.

The whole base camp heard, and every activity and movement came to a startling halt.

"VIRGINIA!"

Why the hell was Draco-bloody-Malfoy even in the _military_? The military was home to uncouth, uncivilized, unrefined savages. Not to some Nancy-boy like him. Except that he wasn't really what people would call a _Nancy-boy_. He was anything but that. He had muscles. He had scars. He had a dangerous and ruthless nature around him. He was a bloody _mercenary_ for crying out loud. He killed people. And hurt people. And did everything a person was not supposed to do to another human being.

"VIRGINIA WEASLEY!"

She was supposed to be the opposite of him. She was a goddamn Healer after all. She was supposed to _save_ people from dying. Help them to live. And she should hate people like Draco Malfoy for coming very _merrily_ along and killing everyone she was assigned to save. So what was her problem? Why didn't she hate him?

"VIRGINIA WEASLEY! YOU'D BETTER GET YOUR ARSE HERE RIGHT NOW!"

She was a _Weasley_, to boot. And he was very undoubtedly a _Malfoy_. Her supposed sworn enemy from the dawn of time. Before the dinosaurs. Since creation. She was perfectly fine in Hogwarts. She hated him and hexed him like a good, little Weasley.

"WHERE IN GOD'S NAME ARE YOU!"

Ginny broke out of her trance with somebody hurriedly shaking her. She looked at them, clearly surprised at the interruption.

"Healer Weasley!" Nurse Margaret Stone called out to her in a hushed tone.

"Yes?" she answered, still in a tiddle of a daze.

Nurse Stone looked unbelievably frightened. "Some-somebody is there."

"Who?"

"A man."

"A man?" Ginny repeated, baffled.

"He's huge. And has – "

"VIRGINIA WEASLEY!"

Ginny's eyes widened, and she shot up immediately from her chair. "Ron!" she gasped, startled. She ran down the couple of steps and down to where Ron was yelling from, interrupting the whole camp.

"Ron!" she yelled furiously at her older brother.

Ronald Weasley turned when he heard his sister yell out his name, ready to lecture her on dating scumbag like Draco Malfoy. But then, when he saw her very livid face, he froze momentarily. _Shit…she was frightening_.

She reached him, and when she saw Harry Potter with him, she glared the two of them dangerously. "Want to explain to me very carefully why you're here screaming like a little banshee, Ron?" she asked sweetly.

"Gi-Gin."

She breathed deeply, and counted to ten. Then she decided she needed an extra ten. She gritted her teeth, and pulled Ronald to her cabins. By his _ear_.

That was how Ronald Weasley ended up yelping and crying out in pain for the whole way to her cabins so that his sister would avoid further humiliation and embarrassment.

And Harry Potter followed.

Amazing how roles had switched since their Hogwarts days.

* * *

Ginny pushed her youngest older brother down on one of her seats in her cabin, and silently seethed in anger, trying to decide which method of killing him would be the most painful for him, and satisfying for her.

"Gin. I can explain." Harry tried to save his best friend.

Ginny turned her chilling gaze to him. "Don't you even try, Potter. Sit down." She demanded, pointing to the seat next to Ron.

"But Gin – "

"But Gin, what, Ron?" she sneered at him. "What would you like to say to me? I'm stupid for going out on a date with Draco Malfoy? Or I'm selfish for not calling in at home earlier? I'm lazy for not sending an owl?"

"Gin – "

"Or perhaps," Ginny continued, her voice rising slightly, "you should be sorry for humiliating me like that, when I'm working!"

"Look, Gin…I'm really sorry." Ron apologized, sensing great danger from his little sister. "But you don't know Draco Malfoy, Gin! He's dangerous. He kills people. He's ruthless, Gin! You can't just go on dates with him."

"Oh?" her voice reaching dangerous lows.

"I know, with you being twenty-three and all, you think you might be a spinster, and that you'll have to get your act together to get married and stuff, but honestly, Malfoy is _not_ the person. He's a monster!" He blabbered on, not aware of how infuriated his sister was becoming.

"Really, Ron? And how do you know that?"

"For Merlin's sake Ginny. I'm a bloody auror. It's my job to know stuff like this!"

She quirked one side of her mouth into a slight grin humorlessly. A very sarcastic grin. "As far as I know, and the last time I checked, Draco Malfoy is not monster, like you want to believe, but a real, live, breathing and eating human wizard."

"Umm…Gin…" Harry started nervously.

But he never got to finish.

"Thought I told you not to try." She snarled at him.

He shrunk in his chair, and clamped his mouth shut. Weasley women were scarier than the devil himself.

"Gin!" Ron protested. "He's a bloody…"

She glared back at him. "He's a bloody, what?" she sneered down at him.

He looked around, and then pushed his head close to hers. "A _mercenary_." He whispered.

Ginny Weasley had to roll her eyes. What kind of _idiot_ did she have for a brother? "I'm very aware of that, Ron." She told him, her voice obviously bored out of her brains.

Ron and Harry stared at her, mouths open, and eyes wide open, clearly aghast.

"And you're _okay_ with that?" Ron demanded.

Ginny shrugged. "Shouldn't I be?"

"_He kills people_!" Ron hissed.

"I'm also very aware of that. That's required of a mercenary, Ron." She reminded him rancorously.

"Gin!"

Ginny sighed impatiently. "Just get to the point Ron. Tell me exactly why you're here."

Ron took a deep breath. "Gin, you just told mum and me that you were going out on a date with Draco Malfoy a few days ago. I came here to firstly put some sense into you, and then have a long talk with him so that this kind of situation will never ever happen again."

Ginny silently fumed as she regarded the mule of an idiot she was forced to call brother.

Harry took a glance at Ginny and gulped visibly. He didn't know _why_ he agreed to come with Ron and carry out his idiot plan with him. He groaned, and decided he desperately needed to save his best friend from hell now if he wanted to see him intact ever again.

"Err…Ron."

Ron shook him off irritably. "Not now, Harry. Can't you see, I'm busy talking?"

Harry grimaced, and shook his friend. "_Ron_." He hissed, "I need to talk to you. Outside."

Ron pointedly ignored him, and turned his attention back to his younger sister. "Gin…the thing is…I don't mean to try and dictate your love life, but honestly, the guy's a _killer_. How can you look at him just knowing the fact!"

Ginny sneered at him. "Easily Ron. He guy's a bloody looker."

At this point in time, Ronald Branson Weasley nearly passed out. How could his little, young, _innocent_ sister say such a thing! She was turning into a bloody scarlet woman!

"God, Ron. Have you even seen him? He's got muscles. He's undeniably scrumptious. Any bloody idiot on two feet who takes a liking to males would find him gorgeous."

Ron's left eye started to periodically twitch.

"And for goodness sakes. Who was I to decline his offer for dinner. It was a very attractive offer."

Ron's face rapidly grew a crimson red as he tried to keep his temper in check. "Virginia Reuby Weasley!" he hissed, his voice unnaturally low. "You will listen to me, as your older brother, and do as I say. You will never, _ever_ go on another date with Malfoy. You will not look at him! You will not talk to him! And you will most certainly _not_ flirt with him."

Ginny said nothing, but raised her eyebrow at him. '_What about dating him? Can I date him?_'

"Oh, and one other thing," Ron added, his lips pursed together, "You will definitely NOT go on another date with him!"

"Too late for that, Weasley."

All three of them turned at the intruder's voice, and whilst Ginny grinned when she saw him, she seemed to be the only one who seemed genuinely pleased at his arrival. Ron and Harry were attempting to reach over to him at the same time, and kill him at the same time.

Obviously, they were not successful. Two full grown men trying to do the same thing at the same time in such a small room didn't not achieve much but to fall down at each other's each.

Draco Malfoy closed the door behind him, and smirked arrogantly down at them. "Where's the third stooge?"

Both Harry and Ron growled deep in their throats, and not learning from their earlier mistake, attempted to shoot themselves at him and try killing him again. Which would have succeeded. If they hadn't gone for him_ at the same bloody time_.

Ginny grew impatient of their clumsy skirmishes, and made a point of forcing them into the two chairs. With her dangerous wand.

"But Gin!" Ron tried to whine his way out of it.

However, Virginia Weasley would not have a single, pathetic excuse escape his mouth. "Shut up, Ron. You've annoyed me more than once today. And that's far too many times. I'm going to tell you this once, and once only. If you choose to ignore this, I swear, that I will make sure you never ever reproduce again."

"GIN!" Ron roared, horrified.

Ginny ignored him. "I will date whoever, whenever, for whatever reason _I_ like."

"Gin – "

"I've made myself clear. If you have any problems with that, you can shove it up your ass, Ron."

"But – "

"Shove it up _your_ ass, Ron. Not mine."

Draco observed the sibling interaction with mild interest. He was at lost to how to figure this woman out. He had come to ask if she would have liked to go on another date, but he didn't really expect her brother and the bloody Boy-Who-Lived to be in her room, in the middle of an argument. About _him_. And she had defended him. Actually, she had complimented him. Called him outright 'gorgeous'.

He shook out of his reverie, and decided to do smoething he was best at doing.

Annoying the Dream-Team.

And with a devilish smirk, he held out his arm towards Virginia, who was more than happy to take it, and they both set out, out the door, away from the two boys who stared after them with their mouths wide open.


	8. Housecleaning Date

"Would you like to fill me in as to what that was about?" Draco asked pleasantly as he led her towards the pristine white infirmary.

Ginny let go of his arm, and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "You remember my brother, Ron, and his sidekick, Harry Potter, don't you?" she smiled impishly at him, "Well, I seem to enjoy the pleasure of their company no matter how many times I try to escape the two bastards."

Draco smirked slightly. "What about the third stooge?"

Ginny grimaced. "She's the worst. She's currently _married_ to Ron, making her a part of my family, indefinitely, and is home-ridden, being blessed with Ron's Weasley genes to be able to reproduce like a bloody rabbit, making her the nag-queen of the century. She really did choose the wrong profession. She would have been more successful and better liked as a preacher than a professor."

He had to chuckle.

"Anyways," she turned to look at him, "Why did you come and save me? Did Ron's infernal ruckus reach you too?" she asked, groaning.

The corners of his mouth twitched. "Actually, I wasn't lying when I told them that it was too late for you to decline the second date. I have tomorrow night off, and since there are no more bed-ridden soldiers, I was going to ask you if you wanted to come with me to a quidditch match."

"Quidditch?" she asked, scrunching up her nose.

He raised an eyebrow. "Not a fan of quidditch?"

"Eww."

"That's mildly surprising considering you grew up with boys who would willingly kill themselves playing it." He noted.

Ginny glared at him from under her thick lashes. "Don't you dare compare me to those little twits."

He smirked. "Then what would you suggest we do tomorrow?"

Ginny grinned widely, shrugging her shoulders as she moved to walk through the double doors of the infirmary. "We could visit my apartment and have some quality time together…alone." She yelled out as she disappeared through the doors.

She missed the grin on Draco Malfoy's gorgeous face.

* * *

"This is the quality time you had in mind! You wanted me to come to your apartment to help you _clean_!" he demanded as she slid his wand out of the folds in his robes and placed it in his large hands.

She smiled sweetly at him. "I can show you how to have the time of your life cleaning an apartment. Come on…stop being such a baby." She cajoled him pleasantly. "Now…do you know any cleaning spells?"

He raised an eyebrow at him. "Do I look like your incompetent fool-of-a-brother?"

Ginny looked up and down at him. "Well…" she trailed off.

"Evil wretch." He muttered.

She held a hand over her heart. "I'm hurt, Malfoy. How could you say such a thing about me!"

He just glared at her.

She laughed. "Get a move on, Malfoy, otherwise you're going to miss lunch."

"And what the hell are you going to be doing while I'm forced to do this manual labor?" he raised an eyebrow at her, polishing his wand calmly.

She reached up and kissed him lightly on his jaw. "Making us lunch, of course."

He regarded her, eyebrow cocked. Then he strode to the fireplace on the west wall of her living room. Pointing his ebony wand at the unlit fireplace, he articulated a single, "_Incendio_", and the cold stone was set with blazing flames. Then watching the flames turn green, a stranger's face appearing in the fireplace.

Ginny stared at his behind, more interested in his butt, than who he was speaking to, and _what_ he was speaking about.

But when he had stepped away from the fireplace, a small, timid house-elf appeared next to him, head bowed, and all ready to serve whatever command his master wished upon him.

"Hello Tonil. Could you clean up this apartment?" Despite pleasant tone, and structure of the sentence, it was a direct command.

"Yes Master." Tonil bowed lowly before scurrying to do what he was told.

Ginny stared at him, mouth dropping down in disbelief. "You're getting a _house-elf_ to do the cleaning for you! That's not fair. You can't do that!" she exclaimed, still not being able to grasp what he had just done.

He raised an eyebrow at her cockily. "Can't I? I beg to differ. I just did."

"Bu-bu-but…"

Draco walked over to her, and fitted her tightly against him. "Shh…sweetheart. How else are we going to get the quality alone time you promised me?" he teased, gazing down at her.

Ginny yelped as she felt someone grab her arse, and blushed profusely as she tried to squirm away from his firm grip. She still hadn't gotten used to her and Malfoy being nice to each other; after all, it had only been up to a week ago where they were at each other's throats. However, once he started showing her _why_ he had been named the Sex-God while they were at Hogwarts, she would forget that it was a very bad idea.

"Trying to escape, Princess?" he challenged silkily.

Ginny shook herself out of the trance his eyes had held her in and silently cursed herself for being such a bloody coward. She was not a mouse for him to trample over. If he wanted to play…she would not disappoint him. "Why would I think of doing such a thing like that?" she implored, her eyes dancing seductively over his face.

The corner of his mouth lifted in amusement as he took the offer at the enticing game she was instigating. He held her by the waist and pushed her further against him. "This is a dangerous game you're playing Miss Weasley…especially when you're playing it with me." He forewarned; his breath hot on her face.

She could smell the subtle masculine scent of his aftershave. Slightly distracted, she had to remind herself that she was in the middle of a conversation. "Oh?" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware that this was a game, Mr. Malfoy…I was under the impression that this was real."

He grinned lazily at her. "You've played this game before." He noted.

"No, Malfoy," she corrected him. "I was a good little Gryffindor witch before you stepped into my life. I've had no real desire to play this game of seduction you're so experienced at."

"You have a desire now?" he asked, cocking an arrogant eyebrow at her.

"In bucket loads." She reached up to whisper hotly in his ear. Although she was quite tall, easily passing the 5'8" mark, Draco Malfoy…he towered over her with his overwhelming height, and so to talk to him eye-to-eye would require for her to stand on the tips of her toes.

He regarded her for a few quiet moments, turning his intense gaze directly into her eye, shooting shivers down her spine, which he noticed and was triumphant. He could see the growing dread of his reply in her aura, desperately trying to give the outward appearance of nonchalant aloofness. She was a beginner in this game…he could trample her in a few seconds…but he decidedly chose not to. She presented him with an interesting conquest…one that he would have to work hard for.

Ginny squirmed unconsciously under his gaze. What the hell was going through his head?

"Good." He murmured after a while.

She looked at him bewilderedly. How was she supposed to react to that? She only knew one way, and it was always almost foolproof. "I'm glad you think so." She replied calmly.

He only continued to study her carefully.

And she grew uncomfortable at such attention.

She broke away, and walked unevenly to the kitchen, making sure to put considerable distance between her and Malfoy. "So…uhh…what would you like for lunch?" she asked; her tone misleadingly happy and bright.

"Whatever you want, Weasley."

* * *

Draco put down his fork, taking a sip of the wine Ginny had served with the delicious plate of pasta. Clearing his throat, he looked at her, immediately capturing her curiosity. "There was a reason why I asked you on a date today." He told her.

Ginny smiled slightly.

"I wanted to ask you a favor. And you can decline, by all means."

"Does this require me to discard my virtue?" she asked; her tone playful and teasing.

He smirked at her. "Not unless you want to, Weasley. But in case you do…I won't complain."

Ginny laughed, tinkling away like glass. "I didn't think you would. But what's this favor you want from me?"

"I need you to be my date at the Ministry Ball next week."

Ginny looked at him curiously. "Any reason why you've chosen me? I'm sure you have more than enough girls who fall at your feet, and would die to go to a Ministry Ball with you as your date. After all, it means publicity."

"You insult me, Weasley. Do you think I would sink so low as to go with a brainless idiot?" he asked her.

"Well…" she trailed off, leaving her answer obviously ambiguous.

He sighed. "The Ball is tedious enough. I don't need someone who'll make me fall asleep."

"I wouldn't make you fall asleep?" she asked, pleasantly surprised. It was the closest thing to a compliment she had received from him.

"Do I look asleep right now?"

Ginny laughed. "If you find the Ball so tedious, why are you going at all? Won't it just be a waste of time?"

He eyed her. "Didn't you ever pay attention in History of Magic Weasley?" he asked condescendingly. "I thought you were the smartest bunch in your over populated family."

She brushed off his insult and shrugged. "Nope. All I heard in Binns' classes were about the Goblin Rebellion. I can tell you extensively about the Goblin Rebellion in 1848 which caused significant upheaval and the wizarding community."

He lifted the corners of his mouth in a semblance of a proper smile. "No thanks. I'll pass."

"So _why_ are you going to the Ministry Ball, Malfoy?" she asked, taking a sip of her wine.

"I hold an enormous amount of power within the Ministry, Weasley. I _have_ to go."

Ginny didn't understand. Nor did she want to. Politics and such held no interest in her. So, instead, she shrugged her delicate shoulders. "Sure…I'd love to go with you. But I'm afraid you're going to have to be warned. My dad is going to be there. My mum is going to be there. My brothers – Percy and Ron will be there. Heck, even Harry Potter will be there. If they see me with you, their first reaction will be to curse the living daylights out of you."

He grinned languidly.

"Oh and one more thing," she added. "Since I am going there to pose as your amusement for the night, I swear, if you leave me with vengeful mothers of daughters who believe they are hopelessly in love with you, I will kill you. I am not going to be your own human shield."

He chuckled. "Deal, Weasley."

She grinned widely at him, and then, suddenly, a troubled look came over her face. "Malfoy! What the hell do I wear!"

He had to groan.

* * *

The date of the Ball approached at a surprisingly rapid rate, and Virginia Weasley still had not bought a dress. And it wasn't due to lack of attempts either. She had visited nearly every notable store selling women's apparel. Nothing, absolutely nothing, tickled her fancy.

This was why she was standing dejectedly in front of the last of the stores she shopped at. _Silana Couture_. The overly-priced boutique was not somewhere Ginny visited a lot. On her income, robes that were sold in this store were only a novelty…a luxury that could only be indulged in only for the most important of all occasions. Last year it had been for Harry and Lavender's wedding. The year before that was for her own twenty-first birthday, where her parents had hopelessly wished for their youngest child to get married and settle down. Even up till now, that particular wish remained a dream.

She sighed, and pushed through the glass doors to be greeted by Emmanuel Iscariot, the jovial young man who had served her the last time. After that one time he had fitted her, he had declared his never-ending love for her, startling her to the core. She had been afraid to return, but then was calmed by the fact that he _was_ gay, and had been explained to by him, that she "had the perfect body – tall, slender, yet delectably curvaceous". Flattering to say at the least, she found herself being carried along with Emmanuel's enthusiasm to make the world beautiful.

"Ginny! Dahling!" he greeted ardently, grabbing her by her shoulders and making quite a show of kissing both her cheeks. "I am so glad you've come back! What will it be today? Something elegant? Something flirty? Something sophisticated? Perhaps sexy? Yes…sexy will be wonderful for you."

Ginny laughed. "Nothing too fancy Emmanuel. I just need something to wear to the Ministry Ball tonight."

"Ministry Ball! Dahling! You need something to outshine everybody else!" He exclaimed.

"I don't really want to stick out a lot today. Media's going to be there…and I'm not sure outshining everybody else is going to be helpful." She explained.

"Nonsense." He disregarded her worries.

Ginny grimaced slightly, hoping that Emmanuel wouldn't get too carried away with his fervor. She really didn't want to be conspicuous to the vicious tabloid journalists who would be attending.

"Black? No, no…too overdone. Green? You're already done green. Brown? No…blue? Not for a Ministry Ball…" he was muttering to himself. "Perhaps a red?"

He swished his wand, and ten red dresses, of all different shades came flying towards them; and with amazing speed, he held each of them against her, before deciding they were not her.

As they got to the last dress, Ginny was becoming worried. She had counted on finding a suitable dress here. If she couldn't find one here, she would have no where else to go.

"Mademoiselle…you are a tricky customer." He breathed appreciatively as he discarded the last dress.

"I don't have time, Emmanuel." She was near tears.

"Fear not," he assured her, "I will find you a dress. A _red_ dress."

Ginny frowned. "Are you sure?" she asked. She was a bloody red-head. It was a fashion sin to place a red-head in red clothing. It just clashed too much.

"You are beautiful!" he assured her, flicking his wand to summon more dresses.

That statement, however flattering, was not doing a thing to reassure her.

Twenty minutes later, they came to the last red dress they held in the store. "You know, Emmanuel…it doesn't have to be a red dress! I can turn up in any color dress. I'm sure I'd be more successful in finding a suitable dress!" Ginny tried to convince him, getting more and more desperate. The Ball was starting in two hours.

But he was determined. "This dress _will_ be your dress, mademoiselle!" he declared vehemently.

He held it up against her, and breathed, feeling extremely satisfied. It had not been the 'sexy' he had been looking for, but nonetheless, made her an elegant and stylish young witch. It was quite simple, really. The dress was beautiful by sight, but not many people could wear such a thing and successfully pull it off. Made mostly of soft crimson chiffon, swishing around with captivating beauty, and the halter was made of black pearls that acted as an accessory as well as a neckpiece. The breasts were crisscrossed with blood-red satin, while a satin strip of the same color was knotted at the waist to form a belt. It accentuated every curve she possessed…it was utterly sinful. Yet, it was undeniably Virginia Weasley.

Ginny looked down, feeling completely ridiculous. It was such a bold color, and it would make sure that she would stand out in a crowd of hundreds of people. "I don't know Emmanuel…it seems a bit…audacious."

"You will be named Helen of Troy after this evening." He breathed, ignoring her reluctance.

"I don't want to be named anything!" she argued, feeling a certain dread fill her stomach.

"I will not take no for an answer Mademoiselle Ginny. This is your dress! No one else's!" he claimed reverently, in awe of the perfection the dress and the red-headed woman held together.

"But –"

"Try it on, Ginny! You will fall in love with it!"

So, extremely reluctantly, she was forced into the change rooms, to try on the beautiful masterpiece of a dress.

* * *

It had taken an hour for Ginny Weasley to be convinced to buy and wear the spectacular dress to the Ministry Ball. And it had taken the entire staff, plus a huge discount for it to happen. And Ginny Weasley? She was not happy. She had looked at herself in the full length mirror (that had whistled at her!) feeling beautiful, but simply ridiculous. It was just outrageously stunning for her, and even though the staff at _Silana Couture_ had expressed otherwise, she didn't not believe she could pull it off. However, she was determined to be confident and poised despite what she may feel.

She looked at the mirror one more time, and miserably swished her wand, twisting her hair into an elegant twist. Regarding herself closely in the mirror, she grabbed the crimson lipstick from her dresser, and applied it carefully. It matched. Her lips, her hair, and her dress. If she had red eyes, she would be considered the devil in a tempting form.

He regarded herself one more time, and swore. It was time to go.

And she would surprise the socks off Draco Malfoy.


	9. The Ministry Ball

Ginny apparated to Tiger-Lily Estate where the Ministry Ball was being held, a thick formal black cloak clasped around her throat, conveniently hiding every inch of her brand new dress. She found Draco Malfoy waiting for her patiently by the tall, stone pillars in front of the grand mansion, faint light from the inside illuminating his body. The darkness of nightfall hid her from view and he hadn't realized that she had arrived. So she took the time to study him.

He looked enormously different from what she was used to seeing him in. Instead of the dirty, coarse uniform she was accustomed to seeing him in; he opted for a formal black dinner suit with a customary forest green tie under a thick cloak which did nothing to hide his perfect muscles. It was different…but not surprising. He was, after all, a spoilt little brat by birth. The fact that he was an extremely _sexy_ spoilt brat didn't escape her at all.

She shook her head, reprimanding herself for thinking such naughty thoughts, and squared her shoulders, ready to face the whole bloody world. She stepped out from the shadows and walked towards him, a sultry look shaping her face.

"Did you enjoy the free show?" he greeted, smirking smugly as he turned around to look at her.

"You knew I was there! And you didn't say anything!" she hissed, feeling her face warm. It was one thing to secretly think naughty, naughty thoughts over someone, but it was clearly another thing to be caught in the act.

He shrugged imperturbably. "I gathered you had a good reason for checking me out."

Ginny grinned impishly at him. "No…I just realized that I need my eyes checked. For a moment, I thought you looked sort of cute."

He smirked back at her, and offered her arm, which she gladly took, and made their way up to the entrance.

Numerous butlers were stationed at the entrance of the Manor, taking cloaks off for their visitors. This was the moment Ginny was dreadfully awaiting. What could she do? It wasn't like she had any more time to find another suitable dress. It wasn't as if she could keep her cloak on for the remainder of the evening. And it wasn't as if she could strip off the dress and attend the Ball in her knickers. _That_ would create interest among the posh politicians, she gathered.

She felt Draco come up from behind her, and allowed his smooth hands to reach for the cloak clasp at the hollow of her throat. It was painfully slow, and painfully excruciating. He undid the clasp, and pulled her cloak away, to reveal her in the enchantress' attire.

He made no outward reactions, but she felt him stiffen slightly against her as he looked down at her. He passed her cloak on to the awaiting butler, and slowly turned her around to face him. "Where did you get that dress?" he asked her stiffly.

Ginny was surprised at his reaction. She had prepared her for nearly every possible reaction…distaste, pleasure, dislike, indifference, appreciation…but this response was something she was completely not ready for. He seemed almost _angry_. "Uhh…_Silana Couture_." She answered hesitantly.

He was very aware that he was frightening her…but memories were returning. Certain memories that couldn't be helped. But he had to appease her, so he forcefully relaxed his face and composure. "You look…exquisite." He told her, quite honestly.

Ginny was, no doubt, confused, but she let it pass for now. She smiled charmingly, and nodded her head, agreeing with his compliment.

He chuckled, clearly amused. "Well…time to face the fireworks, Weasley…ready?"

She sighed, accepting his proffered arm. "Ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

The footman standing in front of the double doors that would lead them two into the ballroom nodded politely as he asked them for their invitations. Draco handed them over to him without any spectacle, and as they waited for the invitation to be approved, Ginny turned towards him.

"I forgot to ask…am I supposed to be nice to you?" she asked, her head cocked coquettishly to the side.

Draco grinned wickedly. He placed his mouth directly above her ear, and whispered, "Babe…you're supposed to be more than that."

Ginny shivered, and decided that asking him was a foolish decision. She could have easily come to the same conclusion by herself…without all the sexiness Draco seemed to radiate wherever he went. She cleared her throat, and held her head high, waiting patiently for the footman to be finished with his inspection of the invitation. But she couldn't ignore him chuckling beside her, or the faint pinkness of her cheeks.

The footman returned the invitation to Draco, and turned to open the double doors with all the pomp and regal he was being highly paid for that evening by the Minister of Magic. "His Grace, Draco Malfoy, and Virginia Weasley." He announced when the doors were sufficiently open.

Virginia frowned as the announcement rang through her brain. '_His Grace?_'

But she had no time to ponder on such things. As soon as she and Draco had stepped into ballroom, all conversations and movements ceased. The only form of motion were the journalists all lined up in the area designated for the press, snapping as many shots of the unexpected couple. Virginia Weasley was at a complete loss at what to do, as she stood there with Draco's arm firmly around her slender waist.

Draco knew that the common practice was to stand and pose for photos with his date; however, he was not a man of great patient when it came with these things. He motioned to the nearest footman, standing inconspicuously in the outer rims of the ballroom, and asked to be directed to their seats.

Only then, did soft whispering and slight rustles of movement resume. But still, everybody's eyes remained on the strangely beautiful couple. They were completely opposite…this fact was known across the whole bloody world, but they looked so complimentary to each other. They, of course, were expecting a confrontation with the Weasley girl, and her family members who were present at the ball also.

As the young footman seated them at their seats, Ginny realized that they were seated at the same table as the Minister of Magic, his wife, and several other politically important guests. Just how powerful was Draco Malfoy? And what the hell was he hiding from her?

"Mister Malfoy! I'm so glad you could come…I almost thought that you wouldn't make it." The Minister of Magic, an old, fat, balding man, with a nasty habit of chewing on his fingernails, greeted Draco exuberantly.

Draco kept a cold face, as he nodded politely. "I would like to wish you luck for the upcoming election, Minister Fanchon."

"And who is this _lovely_ lady here with you today!" the Minister continued boisterously, "I am enchanted to meet you Mademoiselle." He grabbed her small hand into his large, beefy ones, and kissed it eagerly.

Ginny forced a polite smile, and managed to twist her hands out of his tight grasp. "Pleased to meet you, Minister Fanchon."

Draco, surprisingly did not laugh at her discomfort like she had originally anticipated, but looked stonily at the Minister, who was beginning to sweat profusely under his intense gaze.

Silence resided over that table for a few uncomfortable moments before the Minister shot up, and tried to smile dazzlingly at his guests. "Well…make yourselves comfortable. I need to make my speech now…and err…dinner will be served shortly."

As he left in a bounce, his small, gracious wife smiled apologetically to her husband's guests. Looking at Ginny, she smiled tiredly. "I'm very sorry for my husband's behavior. He isn't used to etiquette."

Ginny didn't get a chance to reassure the poor woman, because at that moment, the Minister of Magic had taken the podium, and used the _sonorous_ spell.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my utmost pleasure to welcome you to tonight's Ball. I'd like to thank all of you for taking the time out of you heavily busy schedules to attend this function where politics and affairs of state are ignored for the splendor of each other's company."

Ginny was more than slightly surprised at such intellect coming from a person who was almost on the brink of committing sexual harassment just a minute ago.

"His secretary wrote the speech, and he's just done a good job at memorizing the bloody thing." Draco whispered into her ear, in clarification of her silent question.

"I know all of you are aware of the upcoming elections, as the end of my term is nearing, and I must say, it has been my absolute delight to serve such a cultured and civilized magical nation. If this week shall be my last, I would like to bestow my thanks to many of the people in this room who have made it my honor to serve you all. If this will be one of my last speeches to the nation of Britain, I would like to extend my thanks and respect for all the citizens this country for making my term such an enjoyable and peaceful period that will certainly remain one of the most memorable moments of my life."

"He's getting a tad repetitive." Ginny murmured.

"And I know that I must be boring you all," the Minister added with a small laugh, "So without further ado, dinner will begin with the entrées in just a moment, and after dinner, there will be dancing and time for everyone to mingle. Enjoy the ball everyone!"

Ginny turned to Draco and silently laughed. "You brought me here to listen to this?" she whispered quietly as many footmen stepped out of the shadows of the ballroom to serve them their dinner.

"This is exactly _why_ I asked you to come with me."

Ginny laughed charmingly as she picked up her knife and fork.

* * *

Dinner had run extremely smoothly, with a generous supply of champagne. Ginny, remembering vividly what had happened the last time she had consumed the horrid drink steered away from the bubbly beverage completely, with Draco smirking arrogantly at her. She had nearly hexed him when she saw him look at her knowingly, but he had smartly deterred that train of thought by asking her to dance.

Ginny had to admit that she was pleasantly surprised when he asked her. Even though the number of men she had dated were few, out of the ones she had come across, not many knew or were willing to dance.

"You seemed surprised," Draco said as he drew her close to his body, one hand on the small of her back, and the other gently holding her slender hand.

Ginny felt like she was suffocating…but suffocating in a very, _very_ enjoyable way. He was pulling her so close to her, she could feel every single inch of muscle on his body, and breathe in the scent of spicy sandalwood and moss. "A bit," she admitted, "You don't really seem like the dancing type."

He chuckled. "Then what type do you think I am?"

Ginny drew her face away to study him. "Hmm…I don't know. I just can't figure you out at all," she told him after a moment of scrutiny, "It's just so damn frustrating. Sometimes I think you're a matured and ruthless killer; other times you're a seasoned charmer, ready to entice any girl out of her pants; sometimes you seem like the devil himself; and other times, I still see the bratty snob I knew back when we were still in school."

He grinned as he pulled her back. "Of course I'm still the bratty snob. How else would I know how to dance?"

Ginny laughed and rested her head against his shoulder as he lazily waltzed her around the dance floor.

Comfortable silence fell between them as Draco expertly led her around the ballroom, with her smiling softly, her head resting on his shoulder. A few minutes passed, and Draco looked up when he sensed a large group of people walking towards him threateningly. His mouth fell into a grim line as he leant his head down near Virginia's ear. "Sweetheart…looks like your family has finally found us."

It took a moment for the words to register in her brain because the side affects of having Draco Malfoy so bloody pressed up against her were devastating. But then when she looked up herself, she knew exactly what he had said, and she groaned softly. "We'd better go somewhere more private. I don't think this will really boost your reputation with the press."

He stared coldly at the oncoming group, and inconspicuously motioned them to follow him as he ended the waltz with Virginia, and led her through the dancing guests and out of the ballroom, not being able to help but place a possessive arm around her waist hand wandering dangerously close to her ass, in full view of her family and Potter.

And Virginia, knowing full well of his intentions, couldn't help but to grin and reach up to kiss his jaw lightly as they walked through the double doors.

* * *

Draco had led her and her family (and Potter) through the large maze of the manor hall ways until they reached the set of doors that led them to the vast study. Ginny didn't even want to know how he knew his way around the place so well.

They entered first, seating themselves on the black leather settee, watching the rest of the group file in, their anger barely contained as they sat on the sofa across them. As Ginny watched them sit down, she silently laid a wager on who she thought would burst out first. She placed ten galleons on Ron, as she watched his face become a highly unattractive shade of purple.

"VIRGINIA!" Ron exploded once Percy had entered with his wife and closed the door.

Ginny grinned victoriously. She plastered a sickeningly innocent expression and folded her hands primly on her lap. "Yes, Ron? Is something the matter?"

"Something the matter!" Molly Weasley echoed, her shriek reverberating along the large wooden panels of the walls. "Are you out of you mind! What the hell has he done to you? Baby, you can tell me! I'm your mother, remember!"

Ginny looked mildly surprised at the hysterics her mother was displaying. It wasn't like her to go all spastic like this. "He hasn't done anything."

Molly Weasley refused to believe her daughter would go out with a Malfoy without some sort of curse. So if her daughter wouldn't reveal anything, she would turn to the guilty party. "What have you done with my daughter! What god-forsaken curse have you laid on her!"

Arthur laid a hand on his wife, trying to calm her down, but nothing would work. She was convinced that the Deatheater's son was responsible for their daughter's actions of late.

"Look, Malfoy," Hermione piped in for the first time, "if you've got a curse on her, it'll take me less than an hour to figure out what it is. So for your own good, you'd better just fess up now!"

Draco leant back on the settee lazily as he studied his fingernails. "Don't be so patronizing, Granger. I'm not one of your little brats at Hogwarts you can just push around." His tone was deceptively silky and calm.

Hermione clutched the slight swell of her pregnant stomach, looking as if she was trying to block the ears of her fetus from the words that would come out of her mouth next. "We're very aware of _what_ you are, Draco Malfoy. That's why we don't want the likes of you consorting with out Ginny!"

Ginny frowned. Since when was she a possession of her family?

"I wasn't aware that Virginia was _yours_ to begin with Granger. You have your Weasel King, stop being so possessive of someone who doesn't belong to you," Draco sneered at her.

"You think Ginny belongs to you?" Hermione demanded, her voice cold.

Draco didn't have to answer. His response was the chilling glare that froze everyone to their bones. "If that's the only things you can come up with to say to me, you're wasting my time."

Harry tried to search for something to say. "Malfoy, if you're doing this to piss me off, to piss Ron off, to piss the whole Weasley clan off, it's working okay? Don't you think it's just a tad immature for you to be doing this kind of thing? Merlin…we're all out of school and fully grown adults now."

Draco raised an eyebrow at his direction. "You sorely misjudge my patience and principles. I'm not like you, always looking for someway to grab attention and bask in the glory of the people who idolize you. I have better things to do in my time, Potter. Believe it or not, the world does not revolve around you."

"You can't do this to our Ginny!" Potter cried out desperately.

Draco turned his icy gaze onto him, but it wasn't him who spoke out in disagreement, it was Virginia who had, surprisingly, remained silent for the confrontation so far.

"I am not yours, Harry. I'm definitely not yours either, Hermione. I don't belong to any of you," she spat out, disgustedly, "and I suggest Harry, that before you stick your bloody nose into other people's business, you take care of the people who belong to you first."

Harry jumped from his seat, and gazed at her accusingly. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean!"

"What the hell do you think it means! You have a wife, Harry! She loves you so bloody much, and you go gallivanting around with your bloody secretary, and Lavender won't do a thing but wait helplessly from the sidelines! What about you son, Harry? Caleb might be the product of your mistake, but it doesn't mean you have to go around treating him like one! He didn't do anything wrong!"

"Don't you think its time you took your own advice? Stay out of my business!" Harry exploded.

"You think I would voluntarily butt into _your_ life? I have a life, Harry, and that life doesn't really concern you!" Ginny snapped angrily, her fists clenched by her side.

Ron and Hermione both rose angrily at their friend's defense, so willing to jump in for the Boy-Who-Wouldn't-Bloody-Die, than for Ron's own flesh and blood.

Ginny and Draco both stood up to meet their glare, and they both challenged the Dream Team in a way that was unbelievably dangerous. They were two, after all, extremely ruthless people.

"Ginny! Why won't you listen to us? You're family! We love you, remember! _He_ doesn't!" Molly rose, pleading with her only daughter, "Don't be silly, dear! _He's_ dangerous!"

"Exactly, Gin! Remember he _kills_ people." Ron hissed.

"Really Ginny! What do you even see in him!" his wife added, glaring at Malfoy.

Ginny rolled her eyes, and on impulse, turned to face her date, and grabbed him by the length of his tie, pulling him towards her. And then she did the most daring and rebellious thing she could do in front of her family.

She bloody hell _kissed_ him.

As soon as her lips had latched onto his, she momentarily forgot why she was kissing him in the first place, but was grateful she had made the choice none-the-less, and pressed herself closer against his hard, muscled body. She could feel him smirk against her lips as he, with immense pleasure, kissed her back, hand resting the perfect curve of her ass.

She didn't even hear the multiple gasps from her family members, or see Ron and Harry extract their wands and point it directly at Draco, or the troubled look on her father's face as he looked at his grown-up daughter. But she did become aware of something amiss when Draco broke off the kiss, and with a flick of his wand, which she wasn't even conscious of him holding, formed a powerful force-field around the two before Ron or Harry could do any damage.

Still pressed up against him, she turned to face her family, and her voice slightly breathless, she answered Hermione's last question. "What can I say? He's just been the best bloody fuck I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing."


	10. Mr and Mrs Westwood

Ginny groaned as she felt several somethings peck at her hand. Waving her hand at the blasted things, she tried to hit them away with blind assumptions as to where they actually were. That proved to be completely disastrous, as several affronted hoots were directed angrily at her, and the peckings became more painful.

She gave a great cry of frustration, and snapped her eyes open; ready to curse the life out of the bloody imbeciles who thought it would be wise to wake her from her precious sleep. Too bad the intruders were actually a whole cabin-full of owls, and her wand was conveniently thrown on the floor with her robes and cloak from last night. She sat up suddenly, and with a growl, she successfully managed to frighten the poor birds that had nothing to do with the time their masters had sent them off to deliver mail.

Seeing that she was indeed awake, and ready to pounce on them with her wand once she found it, the great big birds released their parcels, and rushed to escape the tiny room as quickly as possible while she was still rummaging around the floor, looking for her wand.

As soon as she heard the last wings flap themselves out of her room, she looked up, feeling extremely pleased with herself. She'd imagine that their masters would be experiencing the beasts' full wrath for sending them to such a heinous witch. She laughed gleefully, picking up the closest parcel next to her, and flopped back down on her bed.

Opening the parcel, she found a copy of that day's _Daily Prophet_, and a note, written by Ron. Confused, she ignored the paper for that moment, and opened the folded parchment, with his familiar handwriting angrily slashed onto the surface.

_There, you've done it. Are you bloody happy now?_

Apprehension filled her as she picked up the _Daily Prophet_ and read out the headlines.

_**Romeo and Juliet, Anyone?**_

_By Patricia Roan_

_Last night, during the festivities of The Ministry Ball, thrown rather magnificently by the Minister of Magic, Ian Fanchon, and his delightful wife, Louisa Fanchon nee Miller, guests and reporters alike were stunned by the amazing entrance of a couple, sworn in deep hatred for each other by their families many centuries ago. Yes, it is true, the delectable Draco Malfoy, voted by **Witch Weekly** as Europe's most eligible bachelor, and the single man who controls most of what happens in our magical world; and Virginia Weasley, the seventh child Arthur and Molly Weasley, and heroine of many, a Healer stationed at **Portsmouth Training and Base Camp**, participating valiantly in our struggle with the dark side. _

_Draco Malfoy, twenty-four years old, and with scrumptious blonde hair, gray eyes, and a perfectly sculptured body, met Virginia Weasley, twenty-three years old, during their years at **Hogwarts**, where they were taught to hate each other with a passion that rivaled the two lovers, Romeo and Juliet. "Their passion to hate each other was turned to love when they first saw each other," gushed a close friend, and confidante, Parvarti Finnegan, "But while they were at **Hogwarts**, her brothers were always breathing down her neck so neither of them could act on the passion you could see burning in their eyes for each other. And when they met again at **Portsmouth**, she saved his life you know, their love couldn't be stopped." No words could be truer. The sparks flying between the two lovers could not be ignored, even when the Weasley family bore down on them with disapproving frowns and harsh words. _

_Could there be wedding bells in the future? We hope so, Romeo and Juliet, or should we say, Draco and Virginia? Many old pureblood families would be ecstatic to hear the news of marriage for the Malfoy patriarch, as there have been unease due to his status as a bachelor. They will be relieved to hear that a Duchess will soon lead them into a future full of development and success, with tradition and customs we, the wizarding folk, cannot afford to forget._

Ginny was pale and her mouth was dropped open in speechlessness after reading that horrid article on the Ministry Ball last night. She could not believe the _absolute_ rubbish the _Daily Prophet_ was spewing. Her? A heroine? Participating valiantly in the struggle against the dark side? Passion to hate turned to love?! And since when was Parvarti Finnegan anyone's close friend and confidante? And what the hell was that garbage about a Duchess? Who was a Duchess?

She scowled at the paper with article, and a huge photo of her and Malfoy dancing, before she threw it across the room with the passionate vehemence the article was sprouting nonsense about. Angrily, she picked up another, and cursed as she saw another picture of them two posing for the cameras. _Wedding Bells for Old Enemies_.

She could not believe it.

* * *

Draco was talking tiredly into the fireplace, when Virginia Weasley, in all her red-head glory stormed into his cabin, arm full of newspapers and magazines, he too had received with indescribable loathing in the morning. 

"What the hell is _this_?!" she demanded, throwing the papers at his feet, glaring a hole into his head.

He bent down to pick up a paper, eyes skimming the details. _The Charmed_. "Lots of newspapers and magazines dedicated to the business of butting in other people's business."

Ginny sneered at him, eyes flashing dangerously. "I know _that_, you big baboon. Why in Merlin's beard, am I in it?!"

Whatever brilliant reason Draco had, he was interrupted. By the person's head, still stuck moronically in the fireplace, laughing at her. And as the result, Ginny's glare was now aimed directly at the interfering imbecile.

"Hello dearest," the blonde greeted cheerfully.

Ginny felt her fists clench painfully by her sides. The blonde, more commonly referred to as Cameron Westwood, her best friend, Jody's beloved Slytherin husband, was grinning maniacally at her, half expecting her to point her wand to his face, and mutter the killing curse. That very thought was running through her head, and her hand twitched. "Hello snot-face. What are you doing here?"

Cameron's smirk widened. "Didn't Draco darling tell you during your passionate romancing? Must have not had the time with all the shagging you've been doing, and I'm really terribly hurt Draco. How could you have forgotten me?"

Draco in response to his insolence pegged the paper he was holding directly at Cameron's head.

Laughter was his response, and Cameron passed it off as friendly banter. "Anyways, back to what I was saying, I'm this big baboon's deliciously attractive cousin, brains and wit behind the Malfoy name."

Ginny glared at him harder. "You're not even a bloody Malfoy, you ponce."

"My mother is, and she was the more dominating parent in my family, I'm afraid. And as much as I would like to forget that I am half Malfoy, she won't let me forget for a second." Cameron answered cheerfully, "Anyways, I'd better let you two rabbits get back to shagging. I'm afraid with all this lust and passion in the air that I'm going to suffocate on my own vomit."

And with that, his head disappeared from the fireplace, and left the fire burning orange once again. Which left Draco and Ginny alone, for her to kill him and dispose of his body in the most appropriate manner possible.

"Weasley," Draco said with a sigh, "I didn't mean for all this rubbish to pile on you too."

_Breathe Gin…in, out, in, out_…she repeated the mantra in her head. _Did you hear the man? He didn't mean it_. Her fists clenched once more. _Breathe! In! Out! IN! OUT!_

Draco, sharp and aware that she was debating whether to kill him, let her find her inner peace with her ridiculously exaggerated breathing and bent down to throw each and every article she had brought in with her into the fire.

"Ten articles," she finally spoke, "the whole ten journalistic publications that are released in Britain wrote up about yesterday's ball, and the miracle that occurred during it. It was supposed to be a single, strings-free, bloody free date, and you bring in the whole bloody country to witness it, and make it into a circus!"

"Weasley –"

"The _Daily Prophet_, _Witch Weekly_, _Wizard Herald_, _The Charmed_, _Your Truth Revealed_, _Rumor Mill_, _The Bulletin_, _Magic Telegraph_, _Financial Report_," she sprouted off, "they all made hints at it, but never told me the whole thing. Until, I got to the _Peerage Blood_, and then, then I got it. I got why the whole thing was blown out of proportion. Why that stupid old man at the ball called you, 'Your Grace', and why the whole bloody _country_ loves you except for my family."

"Weasley!"

She sneered at him in the most Slytherin way, even Lucius Malfoy would have been impressed. "_You're_ a bloody duke!"

It was silent after her accusation. She seethed angrily at him, while he stared at her intensely, as to say, 'so, what are you going to do about it?'

"You're right," he said after a while, "I am. I practically run the country, and the Minister is my errand boy."

Ginny was so angry, but she had no response to that. She didn't know how to respond to that. She wanted to ask him why he never told her, or why he was in this line of work if he was really a bloody Duke among other things, but in all honesty, she knew she had no right to know the answer to these questions, she didn't even have to right to ask.

"Weasley," Draco interrupted the silence, "I didn't mean to drag you into this mess. I didn't think it would really make this much of a deal."

"Of course you didn't," she derided, "One date normally doesn't lead to expectations of marriage."

Draco watched her carefully as she paused to swallow that lump in her throat, and recompose her self.

"But why did you have to drag _me_ into it?" she demanded, her composure ruined completely with frustration, "I hate this! Do you understand?! I _hate_ this! The only reason behind my name being printed onto a newspaper should be if I was selling my apartment! Damn you, you slimy ferret! You've just completely ruined it!"

He didn't say a word in response. Only stared at her, studying the details of her composure. Her face held more truth and emotions than words could ever express for her. _Bloody Gryffindors_. And he continued to watch her as she momentarily closed her eyes to compose herself, and take a different approach – something that wouldn't lead to her breakdown. Anger.

"For fuck's sakes, and the bloody articles!" she cried out irritably, "I think I could have handled half the articles raving on about how much of a gold-digger I was, just pawing at your galleons. But just reading flattery after flattery about how much of a brilliant _moron_ you were, made me sick! Do you what? Own all the papers?!" she sneered.

He didn't even bat an eye. "Only seven of them. The rest are just terrified that I'll ruin their business if they write anything negative about me."

She stared at him, mouth gaped wide open, not knowing what to say. The bloody balls of the man…she could not believe he was not taking this situation seriously. "I hate you," she hissed before she stormed out his cabin, hair flying behind her.

* * *

Jody Westwood nee Lee handed him a glass of brandy before taking a seat next to her husband. "Well, frankly, I'm just surprised to see you alive, that's all. You can't have possibly have believed that she would let you go without her inflicting serious pain on you." 

Draco sipped his drink and ignored his cousin laughing delightedly.

"No, but really, all joking aside," Cameron grinned, "how on earth did you manage to come out of that room alive. I swear Gin had her 'kill-now-Azkaban-later' look on her face."

"And of course, you would be completely familiar with that look now, wouldn't you," Jody scowled at her husband, "I'm more surprised that I'm not a widow yet, considering how many times you provoke her!"

"I wooed her with my infamous charm," Draco replied, his voice as utterly serious as usual, "I just simply amazed her with my wit."

Cameron groaned. "_What_ did you do?!"

Draco shrugged. "She made a comment, I agreed with her, and she told me she hated me. Normally, this kind episode doesn't really happen until after the sex, but I guess there's a time for everything."

Jody raised her eyebrow at him. "You have no idea, do you?" she exclaimed, "Bloody hell, and here I was, thinking that you knew everything!"

Draco scowled at her.

She laughed at his expression, and settled down more comfortably against her husband. "Gin has serious issues with her privacy. Defends it like how you defend your pride."

"And ego…you can't forget how he defends his ego," her husband quipped in.

"And ego," she agreed, eyes dancing with amusement, "but the point is, after her first year disaster, the part that was the most traumatic for her, was the aftermath of it all. Never mind the part about her meeting the Dark Lord; she got over that after she found out that she almost killed Granger. But the way people just shoved their noses into her business…they never let her by herself, her freedom was completely taken away, and she just didn't have control over her life anymore, and that scared her more than anything else, I think. She refused to let her life be overtaken by anybody else."

Draco looked thoughtful as he mulled over this new piece of information.

"For Merlin's sake," Cameron rolled his eyes, "didn't you even hear about Potter proposing to Ginny before he got that Brown chit pregnant?"

He cocked his eyebrow up.

"What's Potter's greatest wish?" Jody asked him, "It's to be part of the Weasley family, and he thought that since Gin was the only available female entrance to it, he asked her to marry him."

Cameron nodded, "Even went through the whole courting business with the flowers and chocolate and champagne and –"

"–and poetry under the moonlight." Jody finished for him impatiently, glaring at her husband for a second, "The point is, while Gin was rolling her eyes in disgust, Potter thought he was actually falling in love with her, and of course, it didn't help that Potter had all the support he needed from her family. Her mother loved the idea of him marrying into the family, and it didn't even occur to her to think that there was a possibility that Ginny really, really did not like him."

"So did she get _any_ support?" Draco asked her.

Jody scowled. "Of course she did, you moron. What do you think I am? Some idiot made to look pretty?"

"Yes!" Cameron exclaimed.

Jody jabbed him sharply in the ribs. "The point is, she had support from me, and occasionally, in the weirdest manner, Cameron did too. Look…despite how she shows it, Ginny loves her family…a lot…well most of the time anyway, and Merlin knows she would do anything for them – even marry Potter. But can you imagine the fanfare, and the _lack of privacy_ she would have to face if she was ever to be Mrs. Harry Potter?"

"What did she say to him then?" Draco asked her curiously.

Cameron laughed. "That little witch…took my advice. Told him to fuck off."

He smirked, imagining the look on Potter's face. "She kissed me you know. Right in front of her family after they made a whole fuss about owning her. Told them that I was the best fuck she's ever had."

Cameron and Jody, husband and wife both stared at him in disbelief.

"When?!" Jody demanded.

"At the Ball."

"_Piss off_!" Cameron exclaimed excitedly, a large grin growing on his face.

"So how much does she love her husband?" he asked, eyebrow raised in curiosity.

Jody laughed. "Why? Wondering how far she'll be willing to take things with you? She only loves her family so much. Her love doesn't extend to allowing them to run her life."

"Fiercely independent, that one." Cameron nodded in agreement.

Draco noted this new information in carefully, but allowed no time to dwell on it for the time being. Jody would not be so welcoming to the idea of him taking things with Virginia Weasley as far as she would let him. She was exceptionally protective of her best friend, and family ties or no, she would not let anyone toy with her.

"How are the party plans for Petroc coming along?" he steered clear from the subject of Ginny, "Any progress so far?"

Jody groaned and shook her head in complete frustration. "My _mother_," she spat out, "doesn't think that inviting Cameron's evil Slytherin friends will be beneficial for my son, so she's insisting a family get-together. The whole family – brothers, sisters, in-laws, cousins, step-relatives – the whole shebang."

Jody had this fit every year, her mother always disapproving of her marriage to a Slytherin, and an Englishman no less. And every year on her son's birthday, Jody's mother would always attempt to bring her half-caste grandson back to the old Korean traditions her own daughter had forsaken for her marriage. Every year, Jody's mother would try prepare a separate party for Petroc and, a fight would ensure between them, while Cameron watched in avid fascination and amusement.

There was no doubt in the world that he loved his Oriental wife, despite his fire-breathing mother-in-law, but his taste for pure wicked humor always won out, and even though he was always in a lot of trouble with Jody later on, front row seats to the wars between Jody and Dragon-lady were sure worth it.

"And, she wants us to move to Korea! _Forever_!" Jody screeched, "That crazy bat! She thinks I want to be near her for the rest of my life!"

Draco chuckled as he rose from his seat. "I've got to go, my break was only meant to be for half an hour," he said, and suddenly, eyes shining wickedly, he looked at Jody. "Remember, murder is not the answer."

She scowled angrily at him. "Screw you, jackass!"

Draco grinned as he pointed his wand to himself, and apparate back to Portsmouth.

Jody was still seething at the spot her husband's dear cousin was standing just a moment ago when she felt Cameron shift closer to her, and wrap an arm protectively around her.

"Thank Merlin," he nuzzled her throat, "I thought he wasn't ever going to leave."

Jody shifted her gaze to her husband and couldn't help but laugh. "You horny bastard," she slithered her arms around his neck, "Your mother's looking after Petroc and Joseph for the afternoon…so what would you like to do, Mr. Westwood?"

Cameron laughed, laying her down on the settee. "Why ravish you and practice at making baby number three of course, Mrs. Westwood."


	11. Miles and Miles

Ginny Weasley was wallowing in self–pity. She knew exactly what she was doing, with blinds drawn shut, lights turned off, her cabin an absolute mess. But she was slightly justified in her self–pity this time, she was telling herself rather firmly; it was all that bloody ferret's fault. She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed deeply. Honestly, she knew she was being childish and completely irrational about the whole goddamn mess, and he wouldn't have been able to foresee something like a simple date exploding into a marriage proposal.

Many thoughts ran through her head. She had briefly thought about maybe visiting him and apologizing for saying that she hated him, when she didn't really, only disliked him greatly on certain occasions. And maybe she should add that she knew it wasn't his fault and it wasn't fair of her to blame him completely. And that the reason why she blew up at him so violently wasn't completely because of him, it was her own personal past as well.

Maybe she should apologize.

And maybe she should stop thinking about what she should do, because quite frankly, it was driving her absolutely barmy.

A firm, short knock interrupted her musing, and she shot an irritated glare at the person behind the door. "If no one's dying, piss off!" she spat out.

A chuckle came through the door. "Everybody's dying, Weasley. From the minute they were born."

Ginny stood up in shock, and hurried to the door, debating whether to open the door and let him in or not. Bloody hell…this wasn't how it was meant to be. _She_ was the one who was supposed to approach him _after_ she had felt that she had sufficiently drowned herself in the self-pity she felt that she deserved. She raised her hand to open the door, but quickly drew back, trying to weigh the pros and cons of letting him in.

As if he could feel her hesitation through the door, he sighed and waved his wand impatiently at it, making it open wide to her scowling face.

For a long moment, there was complete silence. She was refusing to talk to him first, seeing as he had rudely barged into her private quarters, and he was at loss as to how to begin without being hexed. She seemed a bit dangerous with her wand tightly clenched in her fist.

"I came to apologize," he told her.

Ginny crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow.

"I should have probably explained a few things to you before I asked you for that favor. And I shouldn't have been so heartless in my defense."

Her eyes narrowed. "That would have been a bit pleasant."

Draco Malfoy regarded her carefully, his cold, gray eyes probing deeply into her own, for several heartbeats. He almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation at hand. He had come to apologize. To _fucking apologize_. He never apologized for his actions. Never explained. Never retracted anything. And here he was, apologizing to a childhood enemy. He was out his fucking mind.

Ginny continued to glare at him through her lashes, tapping her foot impatiently and seriously considering kicking him out. Literally. And normally, she wouldn't have hesitated with any of her previous boyfriends, but she had a nagging feeling at the back of her mind that Draco Malfoy wouldn't really take it kindly, and besides, her chances of actually going through with the act, was impossible. He was bigger, stronger, and knew more tricks up his sleeve than Machiavelli.

There was a long period of silence before anyone moved or spoke.

Ginny unfolded her arms, and sat down on her bed, placing her wand back on the dresser. "You're such a bastard."

He didn't even seem to hear the insult thrown at him.

"I didn't need any of that; I didn't want any of that. You didn't even warn me or ask me how I would feel being thrown into this mess! My parents think I'm a scarlet woman, and I'm pretty sure, murdering you is high on all my brothers' minds. And worse, I still don't understand any of this mess!"

Draco didn't even pretend to misunderstand her frustrations. "I can't tell you much."

As in not at all.

It wasn't said out loud, but Ginny heard it loud and clear. She wasn't stupid; she could read between the lines on that one.

She stiffened, and stood up, her back and stance rigid. "Well…thank you for your apology, it's much appreciated. And I'm sorry too. For overreacting and such."

Draco took a step closer to her, and closer still, until he was right in front of her. She seemed so damned proud and resilient. He lifted his hand and gently touched her shoulder, rubbing circles with his thumb. Her black oversized sweater slipped off her shoulder under his ministrations, and soon it was her smooth, creamy, bare shoulder he was caressing.

His hands trailed up her neck, pausing at her throbbing pulse point, his fingers curled around its graceful arch. Then it moved again. To cup her cheek, a gesture almost tender. His fingers weren't soft and smooth as she would have expected from a pampered Nancy-boy. It was slightly calloused and rough, from physical hard work. It was large and cool. It felt safe.

And without even meaning to, Ginny leaned into towards his touch.

"Weasley." His voice was hoarse.

Whatever he was going to say or do after that was interrupted by a sudden whoosh and a blazing green fire from her fireplace, and Jody's head popped up. Jody took in the sight before her, and gave them a critical glance over.

"Why are you two still fully clothed?"

Draco let his hand drop from her cheek, and took a step back, giving them both air and room for clarity.

Jody looked at the silent pair and cursed. "Don't move anywhere. Don't even think about escaping, I'm going to hunt you down and find you, and its not going to be very pretty. I'm coming over," she hissed.

The fire immediately died down, and Ginny stumbled back onto her bed, letting out her pent up breath, she wasn't even aware of holding in. "You'd better go before she actually does come. She's not the most charming when she's in one of her moods," she told him tiredly.

Everything on Draco's face suggested that he knew incredibly well.

"I'm going to an undisclosed location for an assignment tomorrow at dawn. I don't know when I'll be back."

Ginny nodded and grinned wryly. He was never one to mince words or beat around the bush. "I'll see you when you get back."

If you get back.

She knew the general drill of these 'missions'. They were nothing but suicide path.

She watched him as he turned and walked out through her door. _Try to come back alive_ was what she wanted to say, but strangely died at her lips, and was never vocalized.

The loud crack in the air notified Ginny of Jody's appearance in her humble shack, and Jody's intake of breath signified exactly what she thought of the place.

"What a bloody dump!" her voice was horrified and disgusted.

Ginny shot her a wry grin. "You've only been married to that snob for less than five years and you've already turned your backs on the humble folk, is that it?"

Jody rolled her eyes, and smartly chose not to respond to the hopeless argument. Instead craned her head in search of the moron, Malfoy.

"I told him to leave," Ginny told her, her voice flat.

Jody sighed in relief. "Good. I was going to kick him out anyway. On the other hand, we need a serious talk. You need some help my friend…some serious mental, psychological, emotional help. You need to let things out in the open before it festers inside you and grows into a giant monster."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Anything else, Doctor?"

Jody grinned widely and flashed out a large gold key. The key to the enormous, vast, gargantuan vault of one Cameron Westwood. "We're going to undergo retail therapy."

Ginny shrugged, and didn't peep out a word of complaint. Nothing she would say would deter Jody from plans. And besides, she had no qualms or guilt about spending Westwood's money. He had too much of it, and shoveling out galleons by the bucketful would only serve to his best interests anyway.

* * *

They walked into a pricey boutique, with mountain loads of fashionable wear for wealthy young witches as Jody, and for people who knew people who were married to people who were unbelievably rich, as Ginny. The pair of them had already bought dozens of bagfuls of clothes and shoes and bags and jewelry and lingerie and scarves, and everything far and in between. And not once had Jody brought up the entire mess of Draco and the blasted Ministry Ball. 

Ginny picked out a daring little black dress, that was way too racy for her tastes, but to hell with sense. It seemed that retail therapy really did have its perks in life. She flicked through the heavy woolen wear that was in season because of the blasted English weather, and plucked out a tiny black top, almost too small for her to fit into, and almost too lacking in material to actually be considered clothing.

Jody eyed her choices strangely, but kept her mouth shut, opting to shoo her into the fitting rooms at the end of the store. The sales assistants eyed them curiously, but at Ginny's wintry glares, they had smartly stayed away, avoiding bloodshed and a possibility of losing precious customers.

Jody took a seat on the ottomans kept near the fitting rooms. "Gin?" she called out.

"What?"

Jody could hear the rustle of clothing as Ginny was squeezing herself into impossibly miniscule clothes. "Draco was over at our house a few days ago."

There was silence for a heartbeat before Ginny continued to wriggle herself into the dress. "Mmm?" was her noncommittal reply.

"Yeah. He was upset. Well…from what he actually showed, it wouldn't seem like he was feeling any different, but I could tell he was really troubled. Sorry almost."

There was a sound of a zipper sliding up and Ginny opened the fitting room door, and twirled outside before striking a pose. Her eyes were bright and her smile a little bit too forced, but she looked fantastic. Jody had to admit it, however begrudgingly. Gin's tall height and slender figure was perfect for the mini dress – strapless, and reaching mid-thigh. But as a weak gesture of decorum, a sheer black train from her waist billowed out at the back. Strange, but oddly beautiful on her.

"Are you angry at Draco?" Jody asked her.

Ginny ignored the question and turned to regard herself in the mirror. "I think I'll get this dress. I've never owned a sexy dress before, but I think I'm beginning to warm up to the lifestyle of a slut."

"Ginny."

"He apologized, I apologized, we had a fucking good bonding session. That's where you interrupted us." Ginny gunned flatly, "there's nothing to be angry about."

Jody's eyebrows furrowed. "He _apologized_?"

Ginny nodded affirmative, and strode back into the plush fitting room.

"And you apologized."

"And had a merry time." Ginny added, shimmering out of the dress.

"And did he explain about the…?"

There was a long pause before Ginny replied with a curt, "No."

Jody considered stamping her feet and cursing like a sailor. But this was a shop she visited frequently, and her sister-in-laws visited habitually. If she did anything recklessly, shock horror, she would be hearing it for eons to come. "He didn't tell you anything?!"

Ginny stepped out with the dress and the top she hadn't bothered to try on, in her hands, and motioned for one of the assistants to scurry over immediately. "Not the top, but I'll take the dress."

The young girl nodded enthusiastically, and hurried off to deal with the sales.

Jody stared at her in disbelief; trying to grasp the information she had just been given. "So did you punch him?" she wanted to know.

Ginny smiled humorlessly. "No. that's when I apologized for overreacting."

"Bloody hell," Jody whistled out, handing over her husband's vault key to the girl, "And then, what happened?"

Ginny motioned with her hands, "He was doing that stuff you barged in on."

Jody laughed outright. "You sound almost disappointed."

Ginny did not look amused. She shot the imbecile she was with, a withering stare, and waited as Jody held out her wand and flicked it above the key to activate the transaction.

* * *

They were seated at an exclusive little café, overpriced only because once Draco's mother had graced them with her presence five years back. They were both drained and tired from their day-long shopping spree, and Jody desperately needed to get down and dirty with this Draco Malfoy business. 

"He should have explained some things at least…" Jody trailed off.

Ginny took a sip of her coffee and raised an eyebrow, disinterested in what she was about to hear.

"There's a reason why he can't tell you a lot of stuff about his family and what he is and all that crap about him being a Duke and all. They're secrets kept in the family. All Lords have to swear an oath when they become of age, and are told about their heritage and role. When they wed, they can tell their wives, only because the brides have to swear to honor her husband's oaths," Jody explained.

Ginny sat there quietly, her hands clasped gently on her lap.

"I don't know a whole lot about Draco's sordid past and inner workings of his twisted mind, but from what I know, he's got reasons for his actions, and for once, I think he might be on the right track."

"He's gone on an assignment." Ginny told her quietly.

Jody didn't get the magnitude of the situation.

"Last time he went on a similar mission, he came back with a gaping hole in his stomach, only alive because of his rotten, sodding stubbornness."

Jody blanched. How does one respond to something like that?

Ginny stared miserably into her cup. "I think I might be worried about him."

Jody gaped incredulously at her best friend sitting across the table from her. Who was she trying to kid? If anyone had eyes to see, and brains with more than one brain cell, they would see no doubt, that she was feeling a little more than worry from Draco Malfoy.

"Ginny…I know in your control-freak lifestyle, your idea of romance is to drop the guy as creatively and imaginatively as you can, but majority rules otherwise. And part of the wine and dine experience of romance is to let go of control once in a while. Sometimes it's worth it to trust the guy a little. You're upset because he won't divulge any information to you. Sweetheart, you clam up every time someone tries to express their interest in you. You don't give them an inch."

"I gave Malfoy miles and miles at the Ball."

Jody sighed, and drank her coffee. "The two of you are hopeless," she muttered darkly under her breath.

* * *

It was dark by the time Ginny reached the Base Camp again, and she felt dreadful. That gnawing feeling in her stomach was growing and refused to be ignored. Trudging towards her cabin, she passed the dorms and cabins the soldiers and officers were slumbering in, resting before they were roused for action the next morning. 

Driven by impulse, she padded softly towards the cabin where one Draco Malfoy would be residing in, masses of levels below the standard of living he was used to. She raised her hand to knock but paused, realizing the stupidity of her actions. What would she say in such awkwardness between them? What was she doing?!

Just about to turn and go to her own cabin, she lowered her arm. But Malfoy's soft voice made it impossible for a graceful and anonymous escape.

"Come in."

Ginny hesitated. She didn't want another confrontation where things would escalate into out of proportion arguments and misunderstandings. But when she waited too long to decide what to do, the decision was made for her, as Malfoy himself opened the door for her, and looked at her in imperceptible surprise.

"Weasley."

Ginny nodded at him. "Malfoy."

He looked slightly humored and he let her inside before closing the door behind her.

Ginny stood in the middle of his room uncomfortably, fidgeting with her hands, as she surveyed his room. Unnaturally neat and clean. Not a speck of dust to be seen. And she hadn't expected anything less.

Draco studied her, leaning on the door; arms crossed, and let his gaze travel along the length of her.

"I erm, went shopping with Jody, and got an earful from her. But it made me a few things. I shouldn't have expected you to do things that you couldn't do. I'm sorry." She fumbled along.

He closed the distance between them slowly but surely.

She ignored his presence. "It's just that, I felt really helpless and out of control, and you were just conveniently there for me to lash out."

" Virginia."

"I just don't want you to go tomorrow. You might get killed."

Draco didn't know what possessed him to do anything, but he pulled her into a tight embrace, one arm around her waist, and the other, cradling her head. He didn't know how long he held onto her for, but he did, and was relieved when she didn't shy away, but relaxed in his arms.

Ginny felt the gnawing drop and smiled into his shoulder. It was such a relief getting the terrible load off her back, and she felt so much at ease.

She felt him leading her, moving her towards his bed. And when the back of her legs felt the bed, he stopped, and drew back.

"Sleep, Weasley."

Sleep sounded welcoming to her at the moment. It would be sweet bliss to forget all the crap that had mounted up to gigantic proportions. So, for once in her life, she did as she was told, and collapsed onto his bed, fully clothed.

She had her eyes closed, but she felt Malfoy slid off her shoes, and undress, before sliding in beside her, and then covering them both with his comforter.

She snuggled into his warmth, and smiled slightly when he let her.

"Come back alive, Malfoy."


End file.
